


The Ladder

by tighthae



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2018-11-20 22:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 34,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11344737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tighthae/pseuds/tighthae
Summary: Totalitarianism and espionage are looked down on for a reason. Jinwoo finds that out the hard way.





	1. To Maintain Your Power

**Author's Note:**

> All of the beginning of my notes will have obligatory thanks to [ hellavenus ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hellavenus/pseuds/hellavenus)for editing all my shit without them everything would be a MESS!!!!

Jinwoo remembered the day he was handed the baton known as Student Council President. Jinwoo was a freshman, and his first year at Aroha High School was coming to an end. Jinwoo couldn't tell you anything eventful that happened to him before that moment during the last week of school, because that’s when everything changed for him. The school’s most popular senior, Tiffany Hwang, approached him with a badge in her hand. She said something along the lines of “You've been chosen by me and you should feel special because blah, blah, blah, blah.” To this day, Jinwoo couldn’t tell you what she said. Usually, Jinwoo would be inclined to tell her to piss off; this was Tiffany Hwang we were talking about though. Everyone loved everything about Tiffany; they loved her eye smile, her laugh, her clothes, her fashion; there was even a club dedicated to her feet (the club is still active today and somehow managed to receive federal funding from the government. Jinwoo reminds himself to have that club terminated). So, unfortunately for Jinwoo’s poor, underachieving soul, he had to say yes and accept the Badge of Presidency.

Jinwoo honestly thought he would hate being the Student Council President. Before Tiffany, no one in the school respected the President, because only losers were presidents. Since the Student Council was established 87 years ago, there hadn’t been a single election. No one cared about the well being of the other students, so no one ran for any position. The Principal, annoyed with the fact that the students were self-absorbed and lazy, decided to pick one himself. It was just by chance that he had happened to pick someone who wasn't very popular and an easy target for the students to pick on. Kim Jongdae was the very first Student Council President of Aroha High School, and if you want to blame someone for the reputation every other President had, then you can blame him.

To put is simply; Jongdae was a loser. Even though Jongdae was President, his classmates continued to bully him. Jongdae didn’t do anything to stop them, though, and no one stepped in, so students continued to do as they pleased. Jongdae got over it eventually, and he assumed he wouldn’t have to be President the next year, so everyone would go back to ignoring him. Unfortunately, when the elections for the next year's student council president were held, no one ran. So, Jongdae went on the be the first Student Council President of Aroha High School for four years. Once Jongdae’s time in high school came to an end, it became obvious to the Principle that no one was going step up to the plate to become the Student Council President. To solve this problem, the Principal ordered Jongdae to give his official badge to an unsuspecting freshman on the last day of school. And he did just that. And the tradition carried on like that as the school aged. Every four years, one poor underclassmen would be handed the badge. It was usually given to the most unpopular student at the time; how they measure that no one really knew. The unfortunate soul would be the laughing stock for their four years of high school and the Principal didn’t really do anything about it because it boosted the overall morale of the school. That is, until Tiffany came along.

Tiffany was a bit different than other Presidents. She broke tradition. Tiffany wasn’t handed that cursed badge but she boldly asked for it instead. Asking for the badge was a pretty big feat as a freshman, and Tiffany turned many heads because of it. People thought her confidence would deteriorate as soon as she saw how little the President was respected, but it was the complete opposite. Unlike the other Presidents who laid low and didn’t take much action, Tiffany decided to take initiative. Before Tiffany, there was actually no council, just the President wishing that they were never born into this world. So Tiffany built her own council. She and her friends made the very first Student Council the school had ever had, and began to actually do the job that a Council was designed to do. 

So, now you can see why Jinwoo was worried. He had a lot of pressure on his plate. He wasn’t really sure why Tiffany had chosen him specifically; she could’ve just let people hold an election. But Jinwoo wasn’t going to voice his complaints out loud to Tiffany, though, because he had a reputation to uphold. Fortunately for Tiffany, Jinwoo did a good job of ruling with an iron fist. 

If you asked anyone who had attended Aroha High in the past 3 years what they thought of Jinwoo, the first word that would come into mind would be tyrant. Jinwoo didn’t like the word tyrant, though. He prefered God, King or Pharaoh. Jinwoo wasn’t really sure how to run a school at first, but he soon realized that while violence may not be the answer, it’s the only way people will listen. Jinwoo didn’t technically get physical, but harsh verbal communication and interaction with the environment around you, to the point of almost hitting someone, was close enough to violence as someone could get in school. Jinwoo ruled the school with fear, and it worked pretty well for the most part. He wasn't entirely sure that this is what Tiffany had in mind when she passed down the heirloom to him, but it's now been 7 years in a row that the school has actually had a functioning council, so obviously Jinwoo was doing something right. But, it doesn't take much for an empire to crumble at the seams.

✲

“Come on, Minhyuk!” Jinwoo demanded. “Put your back into it!” The duo were in the hallway putting up posters for Jinwoo’s campaign. It was Minhyuk who was doing all of the heavy lifting, though.

“Why do we have to do this?” Minhyuk groaned as he struggled to get a piece of tape off of his thumb. “No one will run against you anyway. You'll still be the president next year. And don't you think it's a little too early to be doing all of this? It's only the middle of January! You shouldn't be so forceful.”

Jinwoo sighed. “Being forceful is the point, dumbass. This is how we, the Student Council, assert dominance. If we don't do this, some asshole might have a bright idea and think they can steal my thunder.”

“Why do you even care that much?” Minhyuk asked. “It's not like you wanted to do this in the first place. Wouldn't it be a blessing if all of this could be taken off your shoulders? No more meetings or stupid, ugly, posters that Myungjun designed.” Minhyuk said, while tapping another poster to the wall. “Who told him bright green letters bordered with glitter looked good on a hot pink poster anyway?” 

Jinwoo looked at the ugly “VOTE 4 JINWOO OR HE’LL KILL YOUR FAMILY” poster. He thought it had a nice ring to it. “If you haven’t noticed, I’ve changed in the past two years. When I was a freshman, I really couldn't have cared less if this position was snatched right from under my nose.” Jinwoo began to pace in the hallway space with his hands clasped behind his back. “But now I realized I have a lot to live up to. If my position is just snatched right from under my nose, what would that make me?”

“Forget I asked, you're talking too much.” Minhyuk said, taking the posters and the supplies off the floor and walking further down the hallway. “You really should’ve just let Jenny or Chaeyeon design these. I don't think posters depicting you as the devil follows school policy.”

“Sure it does! As students, we have freedom of speech, and one of those freedom of speeches is the ability to depict people as the devil.” Jinwoo stopped at a random bulletin board. “Now, put your back into it and put some damn posters up!”

“Why am I doing all the work? Usually the president is in charge of putting up posters for their own campaign.” Minhyuk mumbled.

“You are the Vice President. And as Vice president you are my subordinate, which means you get to do all the dirty work. Sorry, I don't make the rules.” Jinwoo shrugged.

“Yes you do. That's your job. You literally make the rules.” Minhyuk stared at Jinwoo flatly, amazed at his stupidity.

“Just put up the fucking posters.” Jinwoo rolled his eyes.  
“I like this one!” He pointed to a blue one. “Jinwoo is watching.” Jinwoo read out loud. “It's cute.”

“It's an eye drawn in sharpie over a blue piece of oversized construction paper.” Minhyuk said as he taped another ugly poster up.

“Thank you for reiterating what I've already seen with my own two eyes. I needed that.” Jinwoo looked through all the posters to find a second favorite.

“Hey, you two.” Ah, yes. Jinwoo recognized this voice very well. The person attached to the voice had been the very bane of Jinwoo’s existence since the start of the school semester last year. Jinwoo had never met anyone like Lee Dongmin; he always seemed to get under Jinwoo’s skin without even trying. Jinwoo knew that Dongmin didn't make his skin crawl intentionally, but it freaked Jinwoo out that Dongmin was so nice and likable without there being another sociopathic layer beneath all that flawless skin. 

“Oh my god.” Jinwoo groaned, head thrown back whilst rolling his eyes as he excessively dragged on the last syllable of the sentence. “The soup kitchen is three blocks away from the school, go volunteer there instead of bothering me all the time.”

As per usual, Dongmin only smiled at the response he got, and greeted Minhyuk with a nod. Jinwoo found it weird that Dongmin could hold conversations with people now, considering he couldn't even make eye contact with a teacher when he first transferred into the school. It was further evidence for Jinwoo’s theory that Dongmin was a murderer who baited everyone in with his shy demeanor and suddenly changed his personality to Prince Charming in the span of one year. “What are you two doing?” Dongmin asked.

“Are you blind or just stupid?” Jinwoo raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. “Obviously we’re hanging up posters for my campaign.”

“And by ‘we’re’ he means me, Minhyuk.” Minhyuk added as he struggled to get tape off his fingers and hang the poster at the same time for the fifth time today.

“Do you need hel-”

“No.” Jinwoo had answered no to any of Dongmin’s questions by routine.

“But why do you make campaigns when no one is running against you?” Dongmin inquired.

“Haven't you been here since last year? Shouldn't you know the lore by now? I'm not gonna explain it to you, figure it out.” Jinwoo snapped.

“Well, I tried asking the other students about it but no one really knows either. I think they're too afraid to ask you about it.” Dongmin replied

“Well, then phase zero of my campaign worked. Rule with fear.”

“That's a bit drastic for school, don't you think?” Dongmin asked.

“Don't you have somewhere to be right now?” Jinwoo asked, annoyed. “I don't know why you think we’re close enough to the point where you can just stop in the hallway and talk to me.”

“So, you're saying at the moment you have no competition?” Dongmin asked.

“Are you that fucking dumb? Did you not pick up on that? Yes, I'm the only one running and it will remain that way for as long as the high school exists because that's tradition.”

“So, in the entire history of this school, no one has ever had competition when running for president each year? Then how would a president even be elected once the current president graduates?” Dongmin asked, and Jinwoo stared at him, clearly exasperated. 

“I think we’re done here.” Jinwoo said. 

“We aren't actually,” Minhyuk cut in. “I still have to hang up the posters on that side.”

Jinwoo let out a loud sigh. “Okay, then you can leave.” Jinwoo pointed at Dongmin.

“You've never said my name once since I’ve been here.”

“And that's how it’s gonna stay. Now beat it.” Jinwoo shooed Dongmin away.

Dongmin decided not to bother Jinwoo any longer and continued on his original path to the cafeteria. Dongmin admired Jinwoo. While most people were afraid and intimidated by Jinwoo’s fiery spirit, Dongmin found it kind of cool. He wished he could be straightforward with people like Jinwoo, but opting for the pretty boy facade was a much safer route. Dongmin hates to admit it but he still has a lot of trouble making eye contact with most people. He was surprised he could face Jinwoo without flinching or becoming his usual awkward self that was prominent last year. Dongmin would like to think this is some type of character development. He finally made his way to the table where his friends sat with a question on his mind and determination in his heart. “Why doesn't anyone else run for president?” He asked immediately, breaking the flow of conversation over his friend’s lunch. 

“It's just how it's been. The president is president for four years and at the end of their fourth year they give it to a freshman and it starts the process all over again.” Mijoo responded. 

“What if someone else wants to run?” Dongmin asked. “Isn't that unfair to them?”

“No one wants to run.” Taeyong responded. “That's why it works.”

“Well, what if some people do want to run? I'm sure at least one person does. What if they actually want to make a change and they don't get their shot because of how the school implemented the system?”

“I'm sure they could take it up with the principal if that was the case.” Mijoo rolled her eyes. “But I don't think it’d be that easy. Jinwoo had a sudden burst of passion or something for his position and now he won't give it up as easily as he would've a year ago.” 

“I'm gonna run.” Dongmin said.

Dongyoung almost choked on his food. “You're gonna what?”

“I'm gonna run, for president. I think it'll help me build character.”

“You sound like an old dude.” Cathy said.

“I wanna run. But I need a campaign team.” Dongmin said reluctantly.

“Then find one.” Mijoo said flatly.

“Come on, help me out! Please? I'll owe all of you huge favors.” Dongmin clasped his hands together.

“No.” The group said in unison. 

“Why not?” Dongmin whined. “Listen, if I win this I will give you guys positions in the Council and you guys all get special privileges? Doesn't that sound cool?” 

“Why do you want to do this so bad?” Taeyong asked. “It's not going to be easy or anything. Jinwoo will most likely leave you in a pool of your own blood.”

“I'm tired of being known as the pretty boy,” Dongmin groaned. “This could help me gain a new reputation, and I’d probably have to do lots of public speaking which would make me less awkward.”

“I don't think there's any helping your awkwardness, honestly.” Mijoo said. “Maybe you should lower the bar a little. Try out for the band.”

“Don't listen to her.” Cathy cut in. “Being a member of the band is now a new form of social suicide since being Student Council President isn't what it used to be.”

“The band isn't that bad.” Dongyoung grumbled.

“Shut up, loser.” Cathy continued. “Anyway, you don’t even know anything about the responsibilities that come along with being President. You're going into this blindly and you're gonna end up looking really stupid when Jinwoo eats you alive.”

“I will still gain experience in the end, that's all that matters.” Dongmin mumbled.

“Well, I guess that's cancelled.” Mijoo said, continuing to eat.

“How about this!” Dongmin began again. “Taeyong, Taeil has never given you the time of day before: this could change that! I’ve heard he likes guys that are super academic and stuff like that.” Dongmin said, before turning to Dongyoung. “Dongyoung, you're now a loser because you're in the band, so this could put you at the very top of the food chain! Cathy, you can assert your dominance even more if you're at the top of the social pyramid, too. And Mijoo, you'll be a loner if everyone is convinced.”

Dongmin hoped that the minor monologue was enough to convince his group of friends to help him manage his campaign. Taeyong was kind of a sucker for anything that will get Taeil to say hi to him, and Cathy was easy to please since the only thing she really wanted was power and the ability to abuse it. Dongyoung was stubborn so he’d be harder to convince, and if he doesn't comply, then Mijoo wouldn't either. 

After a minute of silence, Cathy grinned. “I'm in.” 

Taeyong looked at Dongmin skeptically. “Does Taeil really like academic guys?” No one answered. Taeyong shrugged. “I'm in, too.”

Dongmin turned to Dongyoung with plea in his eyes. “Oh, don't give me that look!” Dongyoung shouted, but quickly crumbled under Dongmin’s puppy dog eyes and pout. “Ugh, fine, I’ll do it. But you have to buy me bread for the rest of the school year!”

“Well, I don’t really have a choice.” Mijoo sighed. “Count me in on this and the bread thingy too.”

Starting a campaign wasn’t as easy as Dongmin expected it to be. He really didn’t know what he expected it, but Dongmin knew it wasn’t this. First, the group had to ask the Principal for permission to start a campaign because they weren't sure if this was an open election or not. The Principal didn't give them a green light at first, but Cathy demanded she have a private word with her which led them to get the go for the campaign; Dongmin wasn't sure if he heard sniveling or not when the group turned their backs to exit the office. The second order of business was getting access to an empty room to establish a home base. Of course, now that it was the second semester, about two thirds of the empty classrooms were occupied by other clubs. Fortunately for the group, Cathy said the calligraphy club had generously offered her their room when she paid them the visit. The third task was still in the process. Actually starting the campaign would likely be the most difficult step in the process, but Dongmin knows his poster making skills are above the level of proficient.

✲

“Minhyuk, what the fuck are these?” Jinwoo gestured to the several posters hanging on the hallway walls of the school that obviously weren’t his. “Who the fuck are Seolhyun and Yein and Changgu and Yuta?”

“I think Dongmin is running, too.” Minhyuk replied, pointing to a poster. “That's strange. I didn't think he would be the type to run for Student Council President.”

“Minhyuk,” Jinwoo took a deep breath. “What the fuck is going on?”

“I don't know! While you were on your ‘paid leave’ I got strep throat so I wasn't here for a week either.” 

“Take them down.” Jinwoo ordered.

“What?” Minhyuk didn't know why he asked that question. He knew Jinwoo was going to issue an order like that.

“Take each and every one of these posters down, then go to the Principal and ask her what the fuck she thinks she's doing.”

“What do I do with the posters?” 

“I don't care!” Jinwoo yelled. “Burn them, bury them, shove them up your ass! Do anything you want with them; I really don't care. I just want them out of my fucking sight.”

“Are you sure you can say the F word that many times in one conversation?”

“Shut up!” Jinwoo shouted as he stormed off. Minhyuk knew Jinwoo was being irrational, but there really was no arguing with him unless he wanted to be shoved into a locker in the most passive aggressive way possible. 

Minhyuk was just finished with taking down the final poster when a voice stopped him. “Hey, what do you think you're doing!”

Minhyuk turned to face the voice. “Oh, hey, Sanha. Jinwoo told me to take down all these posters. He’s really mad that five other people are running now.”

“Can you put those posters back up? It took me a long time to put up all of Dongmin’s.”

“Did you have trouble taking the tape off your fingers while putting up the posters?” Minhyuk asked.

“Yea!” Sanha exclaimed. “I did, actually. I don't know why something that simple is so difficult.”

“Well, there's a trick-” Minhyuk stopped himself. “Hold on. You helped Dongmin put up the posters?”

“Well, yeah. ” Sanha said. “He made a really persuasive point and it was hard to say no to him. I think he’ll make a good president if he wins.”

“So you're a traitor now?” Minhyuk asked. “I honestly expected better from you, Sanha. Jinwoo will probably hire a hitman when he finds out.”

“If he finds out because you won't tell him, right?” Sanha asked, smiling sweetly.

“I’m not gonna make you any promises.” Minhyuk sighed. “Even if I don't tell him, he’ll find out. He has ears all over the school. I'm surprised he didn't find out about this during his vacation.”

“Well, if you ask me,” Sanha continued. “This is for the better. It's nice seeing people wanting to make a change and make the school a better place.”

“Whatever.” Minhyuk dumped the pile of posters in the trash. “I gotta go talk to the principal.”

“You should join Dongmin too,” Sanha said as Minhyuk made his way down the hallway. “I know Jinwoo is really hard on you. You could make a good asset to our team!”

“Forget about it!” Minhyuk shouted back. Minhyuk rounded the corner and Sanha’s voice wasn’t carried along the hallway. “Work for Dongmin, huh?” Minhyuk mumbled under his breath. Minhyuk knew that Jinwoo had never been the nicest person to him; sure they had their moments, but for the most part Jinwoo was basically a tyrant, and Minhyuk was his subordinate.  
On the other hand, Dongmin had always been nice to Minhyuk, even though they didn't know each other at all. But in the end, switching sides would be pointless. Jinwoo would win the election whether anyone liked it or not. People would vote for him out of intimidation and pressure, even if the another candidate was obviously the better choice. So, Minhyuk decided he would stay with Jinwoo for now. If the tables turned, though, Minhyuk wasn't sure he’d be able to stay around for much longer. Pushing the thoughts of betrayal to the back of his mind, Minhyuk entered the Principal’s office. “Hi, Principal Jung.” Minhyuk greeted.

“Why, Hello, Jinhyun!” She greeted.

“Listen, you always try to be relatable and quirky or whatever to get on the students good side, and you do that thing where you try to relate to us, and it's just not working. You always forget our names so you look like an asshole in the end, so just stick with the formalities. Please?” 

Principal Jung cleared her throat. “Right. What did you come here for? It better be something important! I'm very busy.”

“Yea, reminiscing about your high school years does keep your schedule packed tight, doesn't it? Anyway, I came here to see what all those posters are about. Jinwoo is kind of livid at the fact that you're letting other people run. It goes against the tradition and blah, blah, blah. You know the rest.

“Ugh,” Principal Jung whined. “What could I have done in that situation? That Cathy girl is really scary, and I didn't want to have my eyes torn out or my crops burned!”

“Crops?” Minhyuk raised an eyebrow.

“That's besides the point. I got threatened and I caved in. Now, I can't go back on my word.”

“You are the principal of this school, Miss Jung.” Minhyuk replied, flatly.

“I made a promise. A pinky promise.”

“How have they not fired you yet?” Minhyuk asked the air.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Minhyuk replied quickly. “I have to report back to Jinwoo. It was nice knowing you, Miss Jung.”

“Why do you say that?” Principal Jung asked.

“Jinwoo will most likely leave you in a pool of your own blood for this. I’d hate for our last conversation to end on a bad note.” Minhyuk dismissed the principal with a wave as he left the office.

✲

“So the kid is good at speeches, huh?” Jinwoo was sitting in the Council room with the rest the members of said Council. The very first ever presidential speeches were given, and Jinwoo didn’t do too well. Compared to Dongmin’s speech, Jinwoo didn't do very well at all. Once again, Jinwoo’s assertiveness got the best of him and his speech was very similar to a speech a dictator would give about punishing anyone who dared betray him. Dongmin’s speech was the very hopeful speech about wanting to make the school a better place and everything else you could think of under that category. The other four candidate’s speeches were mediocre at best, but all of them were several levels above Jinwoo’s.

“Maybe you should’ve practiced?” Jenny suggested.

“Practice?” Jinwoo laughed. “You think I need practice? I would’ve been fine if that nasty little pric-”

“I didn't say you needed practice,” Jenny interrupted. “But practice would've been nice. I'm sure all the other candidates practiced before too.”

“Yea, all the stuttering and stumbling over their words like goddamn idiots really proved that.” Jinwoo scoffed.

“It was better than a totalitarian speech about executing people if they didn't vote for you.” Jenny chimed.

“I was joking.”

“Knowing you, the punchline would be the fact that you weren't joking.” Jenny replied. “You're gonna need to change up your tactics if you wanna win this election. Now that there's a softer, more popular candidate in the running, you can't go about threatening people to vote for you anymore.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Jenny laughed at Jinwoo’s response. Jinwoo turned to Chaeyeon. “Chaeyeon, give me an idea.”

Chaeyeon shook her head. “Don't try to drag me into this! I'm only on your team because it looks good on a college application.” Chaeyeon said, not looking up from her phone.

“Whatever! You're useless half the time anyway, fucking free-loader.” Jinwoo turned to a random member of the council. “Hongseok, give me an idea, or you're kicked off the team in three, two, on-”

“Go see the consultant.” Hongseok replied, nonchalantly. 

“Who?” Jinwoo raised an eyebrow.

“The consultant.” Hongseok repeated. “She's the peer counseling lady, but she always solves people's problems, so everyone just calls her the consultant now.”

“Wow, you're actually reliable. Unlike some people in this room who shall not be named.” Jinwoo eyed both Jenny and Chaeyeon. “Where's the peer counseling room?”

“It's right next door.” Hongseok replied. “Did you not know that?”

“Who even gets peer counseling these days. Of course I didn’t know that!” Jinwoo said as he got up to go next door. Jinwoo was glad the trip was short because he didn't feel like walking all the way around the school just to find an individual who so happened to solve every problem she was given. Jinwoo rapped on the door when he got to it, and waited for a response. When he didn't get one, he barged in. To his surprise, there was a girl waiting inside the room already.

“Hello.” She greeted. “I've been waiting for yo-”

“Cut the cryptic shit and tell me how to win the election.” Jinwoo said as he flopped in the chair seated directly in front of the woman.

“Welcome, my name is Choa-”

“I didn't ask.

“Fair enough.” Choa replied.

“I heard from some people you can solve problems and have good results. Since you obviously know why I'm here, solve my problem.” Jinwoo demanded.

“How far are you willing to go to win this election, Park Jinwoo?” Choa leaned forward.

“How far are we going to?”

“Take a look at this.” Choa tossed a small leather bound booklet to Jinwoo.

Jinwoo opened the book and looked inside. The first page was almost completely blank except for the number one written on the top line with the sentence ‘If there are strings cut them.’ Jinwoo read the line out loud. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“I think it's pretty self explanatory,” Choa replied with a small smile. “Are you ready?”

“This all seems pretty sketchy.” Jinwoo said. “How do I know Dongmin didn't set you up to this? He may be using this as a trap.”

“Did you hear about me from anyone associated with him?” Choa asked curiously.

“No. One of my council members did. None of those losers like me though, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone flipped the switch on me and is conspiring with Dongmin from right under my nose.”

“We've changed the subject for too long now. Back to my question from before. How far are you willing to go to win the election?” Choa repeated.

“I'm willingly to go to whatever lengths I need to go to secure my spot as president again, but this is just fucking stupid. I haven't even heard of you before until now and you expect me to just believe that you've solved all the problems you come across without fail? It all seems like a badly scripted TV show.” Jinwoo snapped.

“Suit yourself. But if you change your mind I'm always here, ready to help you with your request. Just know that.” Choa gave Jinwoo another smile.

“Okay, whatever, fucking weirdo.” Jinwoo set the book down and got up from the couch. He would find another way to secure his rightful spot at the top of the food chain without the help of some weird old lady.

✲

“Switching sides? You actually listened to me?” Sanha was astonished to see Minhyuk show up outside Dongmin’s headquarters with the news that he would take Sanha up on his offer. “Are you suicidal? Do you want Jinwoo to kill you?”

“Why are you guilt tripping me? You're the one who made me the offer! Now I'm here because I feel like the benefits are better.” Minhyuk said.

“Yea, I was half joking about that,” Sanha admitted. “But now that you're here, that's great! I can introduce you to the team. Have you told Jinwoo yet?”

“No.” 

“Well, do you plan on telling him sometime soon?” Sanha was hoping Minhyuk would say no and become something associated with espionage.

“Yes, but introduce me to the team first.” 

“Don't try to act cool or anything like you usually do. You'll just end up embarrassing yourself.” Sanha replied.

“Anyway.” Minhyuk dismissed the statement.

“Hey everyone, we got a new teammate!” Sanha shouted at the top of his lungs, waving his hands frantically. “Let me introduce you to the team.” Sanha took Minhyuk’s hand and led him around the small classroom. “As you know, this is our team leader, Lee Dongmin. Charming face and what not, but he's actually kind of stupid.” Before Dongmin could protest, Sanha led Minhyuk to another person. “This is Mijoo. She doesn't do anything, she's the dead weight of the team.”

“Don't make me-”

Sanha didn't give Mijoo a chance to respond and had already moved on to the next person. “This is Dongyoung and Taeyong. Taeyong is kind of a loser and is only here to impress a guy he wants to kiss but that just makes him the hardest worker. Dongyoung is really snappy and mean, all he does is bark orders while he flirts with the hall monitor that passes by all the time named Ten-”

“Move on to the next person now.” Dongyoung said firmly.

Sanha did as he was told and quickly scrambled to the last person he had to introduce. “This is Cathy. She's the brute of the group. She's like a milder version of Jinwoo. I guess you could compare her to an inquisitor.” Cathy looked like she was about to rip Sanha’s head off, but he cut her off like he had already done to the other four members. “Then there's me! The intern.”

“So you're from Jinwoo’s side?” Dongmin asked.

“Yes.” Minhyuk wasn't sure what else to say.

“And you're switching?”

“Sanha was right, you are dumb.” Minhyuk said. “Yes, I'm switching because I'm tired of being pushed around by that bobble head who thinks he can rule with an iron first for another year! There was a reason why Tiffany was popular; she was firm, sure, but not obsessed with the prospect of tradition and power.” Minhyuk felt proud giving such an inspirational monologue. He puffed out his chest slightly in vanity.

“You had me at bobble head.” Sanha said.

“I don't like to cuss. My mom might hear me.”

“Minhyuk, this is what I meant when I told you don't try to look cool.” Sanha laughed under his breath a little. “Anyway, I'm glad you're on board with the right crew!” Sanha put his arm around Minhyuk. “We can make posters together now and hang them up together and get on cardboard boxes with megaphones! It'll be great.”

“Yea, I'm sure it will be.” Minhyuk said, but his thoughts were with Jinwoo and how he’d handle this.

✲

“Hey, Hag.” Jinwoo barged into Choa’s room this time instead of knocking. “Looks like you and me are officially business partners now.”

“What made you change your mind?” Choa raised an eyebrow.

“That little fucking traitor Minhyuk hopped the fence on me just like I said someone would. Then all the other little mice started leaving too. You know those Disney movies where at the end everyone stands up to the antagonist with one big G-rated fuck you? It was something like that.” Jinwoo scoffed. “I've been nothing but good to them, and this is the thanks I get! You'd think those little shits would be more grateful that I let them get away with so many things! Anyway, that's water under the bridge now. If Dongmin wants a war he’ll get a fucking war. But to take down an empire, you've gotta crush the smaller nations to build your power, and that's why I need you.” Jinwoo balled his fist and made dramatic gestures as he spoke.

Choa smiled. “I knew something like this would happen and I'm glad it did, truth be told.” She tossed the small leatherback booklet to Jinwoo again. “You had trouble with the phrase. I'll explain it to you. Turn to page two.”

“Who is Yeo Changgu?” Jinwoo asked. Page two and three of the book where what appeared to be a profile of some boy name Yeo Changgu. It included everything from a picture of him, to his favorite hobbies, to his height and weight and everything in between.

“One of your four competitors. Dongmin is undoubtedly one of the most popular candidates right now. He ranks first on every poll by miles, while you and the other four candidates fall behind exponentially. Now, it's easy to take down smaller powers, but winning favor of their people is a bit harder. These three steps will help you with just that. Step number one, if there are strings, cut them. Tell me what you think that means.” Choa said.

“I don't know, I'm not a damn mind reader!” Jinwoo snapped.

“It means to cut any connection Yeo Changgu may have. Let’s put this plan into action. He's the captain of the basketball team and sits with the jocks in the cafeteria. Those are connections. Now, how do you think you can cut those strings?”

“A rumor I guess? Or something that would ruin his reputation among them. From what I know jocks are petty for no reason; if the jocks toss him to the side then everyone else will follow their lead like the sheep they are.” Jinwoo theorized.

“Exactly!” Choa smiled. “So tell me, what do jocks absolutely hate?”

Jinwoo thought for a moment. “The band.”

“And how can we tie band with Changgu?” Choa asked.

“Somehow get him in a surprisingly suggestive picture with one of the band members?” 

“I like the way you think. Now, go get step one over with. Once you're back we’ll do step two and three. Those are probably the easiest.”

Jinwoo left Choa’s office room or whatever she called it and made his way to the band room. He knew exactly who he needed to talk to. 

“Bin!” Jinwoo called as he entered the band practice room. “I need some information and a little bit of a favor to ask.”

“What is it?” Bin asked, trumpet in hand. “I’m kind of busy. The band instructor will be really pissed if he sees me slacking off.”

“You're saying all of that but you still approached me as soon as I called your name.” Jinwoo rolled his eyes. “Who's at rock bottom here? Out of all you guys, who's the biggest loser?”

Bin hesitated. “Uh, probably E’Dawn? I don't know, we’re all pretty much at the bottom of the food chain here. Please don't tell me you're making him you're new punching bag. I heard about Minhyuk. If you need a new sidekick go ask the art club, they're on the same level as us. E’Dawn is our first chair clarinet player, we can't do our showcase without him.”

“E’Dawn? Is he a foreigner or something?” Jinwoo raised an eyebrow.

“His name is Hyojong, but for whatever reason he started to go by E’Dawn. He's been saying he's gonna become a rapper and all this stuff so he needed a stage name and unfortunately that's the one he had decided to go with.”

“So he's a loser in the band, who's a loser wannabe, who's also a loser who goes by a nickname a loser would use? Do people know how much of a loser he is?” Jinwoo asked.

“Well, yes.” Bin felt bad for admitting to that. 

“Oh, he’ll do just perfect. Bring him to the greenhouse and have him stand there for like 20 minutes until I arrive with a surprise. Tell him it was me who requested it and tell him he’ll have a visitor.”

“What are you planning?” Bin asked suspiciously.

“Mind your business and just do what I ask.” Jinwoo didn't wait for confirmation; he knew Bin would do what Jinwoo asked.

Before Jinwoo headed to gym, he stopped by the vending machine for a snack. “Hey, you!” He shouted to a random person passing by. “Chocolate, chocolate banana, strawberry, matcha green tea, or cookies and cream?” 

“I like matcha green tea.” She replied.

Jinwoo didn't give the girl a proper reply and made his way down the stairwell to go to the gym. Once he got there the smell of feet, sweat, and ass hit him like a bus. Jinwoo also felt like his ears were going to fall off his head because of the amount of basketballs being bounced at one time. After matching the small picture in the leatherback book with Yeo Changgu’s face, Jinwoo stuffed it into the pocket of his blazer. “Excuse me, Yeo Changgu. We need to talk and unless you want detention or some other form of school punishment, I suggest you come with me outside so we can have a discussion.” Changgu looked at his friends then back to Jinwoo. They seemed to give him a nod that said “If he tries to slit your throat just scream as loud as you can.” Nevertheless, Changgu followed.

Changgu opened his mouth when they finally got outside. “What-”

“Before you go yelling and screaming or whatever athletes do, let me make a proposal. Yes, this is about you running for president and no I didn't come here to kill you. I've come to make an alliance of sorts.” Jinwoo said.

“An alliance?”

“Yes, thank you for repeating that line. An alliance. I don't like Dongmin-”

“Why?” Changgu cut Jinwoo off.

“What do you mean why? He's my nemesis, and I'm pretty sure he's out to get me. I don't trust anyone who can be so nice and friendly to everyone while also being modest about their looks. It reeks of something sinister.”

“Or maybe he's just a nice person. It's funny how you talk about someone being sinister while trying to propose an alliance that you hope will bring him down to his knees.” Changgu retorted.

“Please, for the love of god don't make me regret this.” Jinwoo pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don't act all high and mighty; you want to win this as much as I do. Are you with me or not?”

“What is this alliance you speak of and what are its benefits?” Changgu asked.

“Well, let's say I have some promotion for you. Very positive press. Go to the greenhouse and I'll be there in 10 minutes to talk you over with how this will work.”

Jinwoo knew Changgu would do what he was told. Seeing as how Jinwoo was still president, he still could give out punishments as he pleased, and Principal Jung wouldn't stop him. Jinwoo only had one more stop to make, and step one would be nearly complete. 

Jinwoo’s last phase took him to the journalism club. Anything they post in the online newspaper was instantly regarded as fact, so they would be a key factor in Jinwoo’s little plan. “Myungjun!” Jinwoo shouted as he entered the computer lab. “Remember that tiny little favor you owed me? I'm redeeming it now. Round up two of your best little maggots and meet me in the hallway.” Jinwoo wasn't even sure if Myungjun was in there but he still waited outside. Fortunately for Jinwoo, Myungjun was there.

“Hi Jinwoo, this is Mark and this is Eun. They're the uh, maggots you ordered.”

“Good.” Jinwoo took three folded pieces of paper out of the pocket of his blazer. “It's sloppy because the only time I had to make them was between trips from this old lady’s classroom to the band room, and from there to the vending machine, and from the vending machine to the gym.”

“What is it?” Mark asked, unfolding the paper.

“It's a map. Follow the line’s route very carefully. Make sure you aren't seen by anyone, including two people standing beside the greenhouse. Make sure to find cover in your designated areas and bring your cameras. When it looks like two guys are about to kiss, snap a few photos. That's all I ask. Start making your way there.” Jinwoo didn’t wait for a response and made his way to the greenhouse. This was Jinwoo’s very first step on his path of destruction. 

“I'm surprised you two showed up.” Jinwoo said to E’Dawn and Changgu as the two stood where Jinwoo had told them to stand.

“You kind of forced us here.” Changgu said.

“Yea, I did. Didn't I?” Jinwoo replied.

“Why is this guy here?” Changgu said, gesturing to E’Dawn.

“It's all apart of the good promotion. Wouldn't it look good to see a jock and a band member together?” Jinwoo asked, arms folded.

“I don't really want a part in this.” Hyojong said. “And I need to get back to the band room soon.”

“Yea, I get that. This is just a discussion, though nothing is concrete yet. First, I need to test your compatibility and your photogenicness.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” Changgu asked.

“Like this,” Jinwoo pulled out the matcha green tea Peppero he had got from the vending machine earlier. “Playing the Peppero game.” Jinwoo held out the box for Changgu to take.

“How is this-” Changgu began.

“Do you want to at least have a chance in the running for president or not?” Jinwoo asked. “Don't worry, I won't look.”

“Then how will this test our ‘photogenicness’?” Changgu asked, air quotes included.

Jinwoo didn't expect that question. “This is just the… compability part!” Jinwoo said too quickly for it to be true. “The journalism club was busy today so I couldn’t book them for a shoot.”

“You're the totalitarian dictator of the school, and you couldn't force the journalism club to cooperate?” E’Dawn asked.

Jinwoo didn't think this through very well. “Listen, the people will complain if a new newspaper isn't ready and I'm not one to upset the people.”

“Yes you are, that's exactly what you are.” Changgu said.

“There's some shit I can and can't do. This time of year is busy for certain clubs, okay?” Jinwoo snapped.

“It's January.” E’Dawn said flatly.

“People are preparing for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.” Jinwoo shot back.

“We aren't even American…” E’Dawn said, shocked by Jinwoo’s stupidity.

“Well, with a stage name like E’Dawn you might as well start acting like one. Now, can we please get this over with? I’ve shit to do.”

Changgu shrugged and took the Peppero stick. He thought E’Dawn was pretty cute anyway, so this wouldn't hurt anyone as long as no one found out. Jinwoo turned around like he had promised to do and waited impatiently, tapping his foot aggressively. Jinwoo was hoping none of the bulky cameras would make a loud clicking sound and give him away. Lucky for him, they didn't, and Changgu was done almost kissing Hyojong. Hopefully the angles Jinwoo had shown would be enough to mask the fact it was a Peppero stick being shared between the two. 

“Now what?” Changgu asked.

“Well, do you feel compatible?” Jinwoo asked.

“It was awkward.” E’Dawn said.

“We’ll work on it.” Jinwoo replied. “Anyway, like I said I have lots of things to do!” Jinwoo walked away as quickly as he could, leaving the other two in the dusk. By the time his plans were finished, school was already out. He made his way home, smiling to himself. 

 

“Alright, what's step two.” Jinwoo was in Choa’s office room the next morning. “Step one is complete and the school newspaper should be up any moment now.”

“That was fast.” Choa commented.

“I like getting things done.” 

“Take out the book and turn to page four,” Choa ordered. “Read the line out loud for me.”

“Take the strings and make them your own.” Jinwoo quoted. “This is the part you were talking about yesterday. Pleasing his people or whatever.”

“If your plan works the way you want it to, all of Yeo Changgu’s supporters will be left without a party. This is your time to sway them. Any ideas?” Choa asked.

Jinwoo placed his index finger on his chin. “When I went into the gym yesterday it was really loud. They could use some more of that sound foam or whatever to reduce noise, and I guess a higher cleaning budget?”

“That targets one of his demographics. What about the jocks in general?” Choa raised an eyebrow.

“I can always take funding away from the useless clubs and hame it over to the different sports activities. You think that’ll work?”

“We’ll have to wait and see.” Choa replied. “Now read the third and final step for me.”

“Pull them.” Jinwoo said slowly.

“Now that you've got the strings in your hands, they're your puppets. Use it to your advantage. Make them make you look good.” Choa smiled.

“Alright, I'm gonna go see if everything has gone my way.” Jinwoo said. Choa bid him goodbye and Jinwoo made his way toward the cafeteria. As Jinwoo expected, there was a crowd gathering where Changgu usually sits.

“Dude, we don't care that you made out with a guy. We’re mad because you broke the code, man.” Jinwoo stood in the doorway of the cafeteria and listened to Johnny speak; he knew better than to step into the fray.

“We didn't even make out. It was Peppero. Jinwoo made us do that. He said-” Changgg tried to explain himself.

“So now you're blaming it on Jinwoo, hoping that it’ll save your campaign?” Jocks were just as dumb as Jinwoo thought they were. “That's pretty low, man. How can we, the Jocks, trust you with our vote when you broke a very ancient code. No foresnicating with the band members!”

“I think you mean fornicate.” Yoonoh commented. “And that's not it either, they didn't bang or anything.”

“Whatever,” Johnny scoffed. “You broke the code and we’re breaking our votes for you.”

“That didn't even make sense.” Changgu replied monotonously. 

Jinwoo was proud his plan was working so well. He made his way to the vicinity of the gym and waited for Johnny to come around when lunch was over. Jinwoo was glad that Johnny was predictable enough to the point where Jinwoo knew what path he’d take to the gym. “Johnny!” Jinwoo called. Johnny looked up and was surprised to see Jinwoo call his name. “Take a walk with me.” Jinwoo beckoned Johnny to him.

“You here to tell me you're gonna cut funding for basketball club or something because of the Changgu thing?”

“Are you the captain now?” Jinwoo asked. 

“We haven't officially dethroned him yet but since I'm co-captain I think that's how it works.” Johnny said, thinking hard.

“Uh huh,” Jinwoo nodded. “I wanted to run this over with the captain, so since you're next in line I wanted to tell you. When I came into the gym yesterday, I noticed that it was super loud. Do you think it’d be okay if I got the school to spend money on more of that sound foam stuff so it’d be less loud in there?”

Johnny’s shock was obvious. “Uh, yea, sure, I guess.”

“Great. Tell the other sports team and jocks if they need any funding at all they should come ask. I got extra funding because of some lawsuit the school won.” Jinwoo lied. 

✲

“This is fishy,” Cathy said, biting her thumb nail. It’s been about three weeks since Jinwoo had won over the jocks and it was now the middle of February. The jocks loved Jinwoo, so it was easy for him to persuade the jocks to vote for him. Because of this, Jinwoo’s popularity increased on the recent polls. “Jinwoo is up to something. He has something to do with Changgu basically being exiled from the running for presidency.”

“And how do you know that?” Mijoo asked, exhaling while filing her nails.

“You know that whole Changgu band kid thing?” Cathy asked.

“Yea, I heard that he and the band dude are like talking or whatever. I guess something good came out it.”

“Taeyong wishes.” Dongyoung chimed. Taeyong was about to lash out when Cathy interrupted.

“Okay, back to me. Anyway, I was studying the picture thoroughly and guess what? There was a matcha green tea Peppero stick in their mouths. They were playing the Peppero game like Changgu had said. You just couldn't see it because they were by a greenhouse so it blended in with the plants behind the glass.”

“What does that have to do with Jinwoo?” Dongmin asked. 

“I was just walking around the school the day before the newspaper article was released. I happened to walk by Jinwoo, who said hey you, and listed some flavors of a snack he wanted to get. I suggested matcha green tea.”

“But how do you know it was Peppero he was getting?” Mijoo asked.

“Can you name any other snack that comes in the matcha green tea flavor?”

Mijoo thought for a bit. “Yea, you win.”

“And that's not all. I wanted to find out how the school newspaper got ahold of those photos just to confirm my suspicions. They said they didn't know who took them since the cameras had just been placed on the desk with sticky notes saying include in tomorrow's article, but Seolhyun did say that people named Eun, Mark and Myungjun were missing. But she also said before that Jinwoo said he was calling for Myungjun really loudly and said something about owing him a favor. There were three different angles those pics were taken from so it ties into them being missing.”

“Slow down Sherlock, you'll die from not having enough oxygen talking like that.” Mijoo said.

“Dongmin, what are your thoughts on this?”

“My thoughts?” Donmin asked. If Dongmin was being honest, he was actually really impressed with Jinwoo if what Cathy was saying was true. It required a certain level of intellect to pull off a stunt like that with so many people, and not get caught. Dongmin couldn't help but admire Jinwoo even more for that. “He did a good job in what he was trying to do I guess. He kind of fooled everyone.”

“So you're not gonna do anything!” Cathy asked, baffled.

“What can I do? You don't have any evidence beside memories. That's not a concrete case.”

“Well, he's bound to do it again and I’ll have evidence the next time he does, just count on it!” Cathy exclaimed.

✲

“Bringing down candidate one wZ surprisingly easier than I expected.” Choa said. “The second step is usually the hardest because it's difficult to gain trust, but you pulled it off really well.”

“Thanks, but who's our next target?” Jinwoo asked.

“You don't read books very often, do you?” Choa asked. “Turn to page 6 and read what's there.”

“Kim Seolhyun.” Jinwoo read out loud “Ah, the school’s It Girl who’s running for prez. How nice.”

“You know the steps.”

“Well she's in the journalism club and the fashion club. The journalism club doesn't like the sewing club and the fashion club doesn’t like the karate club. I don't think I can cause discord like I did last time.” Jinwoo said.

“What about framing her?” 

“Framing her for what? This is high school.” Jinwoo looked at Choa like she was dumb.

“It was just an idea.”

Jinwoo thought about the idea for framing for a bit. “You know, that's actually not a bad idea. Fashion club are really exclusive with their design. They don’t let anyone but the fashion club members inside their room when they create new outfits; they threatened a guy at sewing needle-point for accidentally glancing inside the club room when a member went inside it. It would be a shame if one of the members that so happened to be in the journalism club leaked the design for the latest cheerleading uniforms, huh?”

“I hope you have a plan.” Choa said, with her usual smile.

“Oh, I do.” Jinwoo replied.

This mission would require Jinwoo to pull off some stunts after hours. Jinwoo waited for the final bell to ring and sat in his headquarters alone, because at this point he had no team. Jinwoo knew what he needed to do but he would have to sacrifice a bit of his pride to do it. First, he would have to make his way to the fashion club and find something he needed.

The fashion club wasn't heavily guarded, so Jinwoo waltzed right in. To his fortune, no one was in clubroom after school had been let out. Jinwoo looked around until he saw the mannequin in the cheerleading uniform. It looked pretty ugly to him, but everyone in the school loved the fashion club so Jinwoo knew they'd be praised no matter how mediocre the design was. Pushing the unnecessary thoughts to the back of his head, Jinwoo grabbed a long brown wig from a random mannequin to make the last stop for the day. Jinwoo cleaned the knob with the sleeve of his shirt before he left; he had to be sure no one would scan for fingerprints since Seolhyun was well liked.

The sun was setting and the hallways were bathed in a warm hue of orange and yellow. Jinwoo knew he would have to wait half an hour before the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon rose about the hills to drench the school in blank. Making his way to the security room, Jinwoo picked up the black tracksuit and cap that was left by the door. Under the cap were insoles and lipgloss. Slipping on leather gloves that were also placed under the cap, Jinwoo stepped into the security room with the items in his hands. Just before school had ended, Jinwoo asked the janitor to leave the security room open and, to Jinwoo’s surprise, the janitor went along with Jinwoo’s order without any questions.

The school was decently sized so the security room was also decently sized. There were 3 rows of about 40 cameras each: 20 sat on the tables and the other 20 sat on top of TVs. Each TV had a keyboard associated with it. Jinwoo didn't know why the school had so many security cameras and it bugged him that he had to do so much sleuthing just to frame someone. Jinwoo already knew which sector he needed. The last row on the far left were all the security cameras for the fine arts section of the school. 

Making himself comfortable, Jinwoo sat down in the wheeled chair. He fast forwarded all the footage from that day until it was the end of the school day. He fast forwarded about 2 hours and just as he expected. the tape he was looking for was there. Jinwoo saw that he entered the fashion club at 6:56 PM and exited at 7:00 PM. Jinwoo deleted that short clip of him, and it honestly looked convincing enough to him. There was a slight jump in the tape and the time stamp would give him away, but he was sure no one would go through the lengths of sifting through the footage because he knew his plan was foolproof. It was now 7:12 PM and Jinwoo knew the sun would set very soon. Jinwoo wasn't sure if there were cameras in the security room, but he didn't care either way. Stripping down to his underwear, Jinwoo put on the black tracksuit. Jinwoo put the brown wig on that resembled Seolhyun’s generic hair and placed the cap over it, covering his eyes for the most part. Jinwoo applied a generous layer of the lip gloss Seolhyun had had on earlier that day (he told Eun to ask Seolhyun if she could borrow the lip gloss then give it to Jinwoo). Jinwoo threw the hood of the tracksuit over his head and slipped into the insole-filled shoes to emulate Seolhyun’s height. 

Jinwoo knew he would have to delete a lot more security camera footage which was kind of a hindrance, but he had to make sure he was thorough. With his head down and his hand in his pockets, Jinwoo made his way back to the fashion club. Jinwoo hoped his head was low enough so the camera couldn't see his eyes but also catch his lip gloss and the hair that fell from his hood to his chest. Facing the fashion club, Jinwoo opened the door. Jinwoo left the door open on purpose. Making sure the flash and sound for his camera were on, Jinwoo began to take pictures of the uniform. Jinwoo hoped the flash and the sound of the camera clicking would be caught by the surveillance camera. After taking pictures from all angles, Jinwoo made his way out of the fashion club, head down. Heading back to the security room, Jinwoo spent most of that evening deleting footage of him exiting the security office, entering the security office, and anything that involved him seeing Changgu and Hyojong. After two hours, Jinwoo tiredly dragged himself home.

The very next day, Jinwoo’s rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he walked to the computer room. “Myungjun,” Jinwoo yawned. “I need you to do one more little thing for me.”

“If this is another one of your little schemes I don't want any-” 

“It is and you'll do as you're told. Just distract Seolhyun for me for like 10 minutes.” Jinwoo said, patting his face.

Myungjun was going to protest but knew that Jinwoo had the upper hand. He shyly walked up to Seolhyun and tapped her shoulder, signaling her to come outside of the computer lab for whatever reason he had made up in his head. Looking back to make sure Seolhyun had completely left, and also looking around to make sure everyone was minding their business, Jinwoo slipped into her seat. Jinwoo plugged his charger into his phone which he plugged into one of the desktop’s USB ports and began to upload the photos he had taken last night. Seolhyun was still signed into her email on one of the tabs she had open, so Jinwoo decided to give the editing chief a sneak peak at the uniform. He made something up about the fashion club wanting an early reveal at their new project and hit send. Deleting the files he had uploaded, Jinwoo thought about how he would have to ask Myungjun to grab those images off the editing chief’s computer and delete the email. Jinwoo decided to take the rest of the day off.

Jinwoo was once again sitting in Choa’s office waiting for the drama to unfold. 

“Pulling off a scheme like that in a day again - I’m pressed. You work fast.” Choa complimented.

“I’m still exhausted.” Jinwoo sighed and put his head down on the ebony desk.

“Did you cover your tracks?” Choa asked.

“Yep, didn't miss a spot.” 

“Do you think the fashion club will label her a traitor?” 

“Yes,” Jinwoo replied. “Fashion falls under the fine arts, and you know those kids are so unnecessarily dramatic. They'll call her a traitor, say she broke some stupid code just like the guys did with Changgu, the journalism club won't be able to trust her because she betrayed the fashion club and then everyone that is associated with the fine arts won't be able to trust her anymore. I will swoop in with some bullshit about funding once again; I already have the jocks on my side so I'll take all the funding I took from the fine arts to support them back and a little extra. They'll be wrapped around my pinky and then there will only be two more people left to take down.”

“Are you going to go see if your plan worked?” Choa asked.

“I don't want to,” Jinwoo began tiredly. “But I have to.” With that, Jinwoo made his way to the cafeteria where every grand event that happened in this school took place.

“I had my doubts, Seol, I really did.” Chanmi was yelling. “But there's even footage on the surveillance camera of you going in and taking pictures of our uniform! You know how we pledged secrecy to all our projects! You can think that it's dumb but I'm really hurt right now.” 

Jinwoo stopped in the doorway to the cafeteria and watched Seolhyun struggle to explain herself. “It wasn't me, I swear!”

“So you're just gonna deny the evidence! It's there!” Chanmi shot back.

“What would I have to gain from selling you guys out? You're being irrational.”

“Whatever, consider our vote withdrawn and your spot in the fashion club revoked!” Chanmi made a dramatic exit with the rest of the club trailing behind her.

“Sorry, Seolhyun.” Myungjun said. “The chief just texted me and said you're off the team. He doesn't trust you anymore.”

“But-” Seolhyun choked on her words and looked like she was one the verge of tears. That wasn't Jinwoo’s problem. 

✲

“See, I knew it,” Cathy looked at the time stamps that jumped from one place to four minutes ahead “All the other footage is deleted except the one of ‘Seolhyun’ breaking in.” Cathy and the rest of Dongmin’s team, with the inclusion of E’Dawn, Changgu and Seolhyun, were reviewing the monitor in the security room.

“Hm,” Dongmin started. “You think it's Jinwoo again, don't you?”

“It has to be. This is obviously him framing Seolhyun. If you were going to betray someone, you wouldn’t be dumb enough to delete every piece of evidence except the video of you in the middle of the crime.”

“Well if that's him, he’s really dedicated.” Dongmin began to admire Jinwoo again. “He's not that tall so he boosted his height somehow and even went as far to get the same lipstick and a wig. He seems really diligent. He even deleted footage of him before those points to cover up his tracks with Changgu and Hyojong. That was weeks ago.”

“Okay,” Cathy began. “Let's start from the beginning. Seolhyun,” Cathy turned to the girl. “Did you give your lip gloss to anyone that day?”

“Uh, yea.” Seolhyun replied. “I let Eun use it. She said she really liked the color.”

“That's a lead! Eun was one of the girls missing that day those photos of Chaggu and E’Dawn were taken. She obviously has a connection to Jinwoo.”

“Where do you think he got the wig from?” Mijoo asked. “It was a pretty convincing one.”

“Well, there was a skip from 6:56 PM to 7:00 PM in the tapes,” Cathy began. “That could be him going to get the wig because he knew that the fashion club would have one.”

“Any fingerprints?” Taeyong asked. “I know it's not that serious but it could put an end to this.”

“I already asked Minhyuk and Sanha to check.” Cathy sighed. “Nothing. I looked at the tape again and saw he was wearing gloves so it makes sense.”

Dongmin smiled to himself slightly. “He's really clever.”

“You think he delivered the email?” Dongyoung asked.

“Why don't we check.” Mijoo suggested. “We can do it right now.”

The group gathered around the set of TVs that monitored the computer lab. Unfortunately for them, there was another time skip for when Seolhyun went up to assist Myungjun.

“He really thinks his plans through, huh?” Dongmin said.

“What about before this point?” Changgu asked. “Do you think he went the extra step to delete him going into the computer lab.”

Cathy reversed the footage to test Changgu’s theory. It turns out Jinwoo didn't completely think it through. The footage showed a tired Jinwoo demanding Myungjun do something for him. Cathy fast forwarded the video to when Seolhyun left with Myungjun. 

“You think that's enough?” Dongmin asked. 

“It's all we have until he slips up,” Cathy sighed “But this is Jinwoo we’re talking about; it'll be enough to convince people.”

✲

Jinwoo made his way to the cafeteria. This was the first time in a while he was going there on his own free will. He strutted into the cafeteria, cut the line, and sat down at a table that was reserved just for the current Student Council. Of course, it was just him sitting there today. Jinwoo was too busy browsing on his phone to notice the commotion that began to stir around him.

“Attention students! I, Ki Heehyun aka Cathy, have a very important announcement to make! Park Jinwoo has been sneaking around committing espionage and getting candidates eliminated!”

“What espionage?” Johnny shouted.

Cathy ignored him. “What do you have to say for yourself, Park Jinwoo?”

Jinwoo gave her an unamused look. “Prove it.” Was all he said. 

“I'm glad you asked,” Cathy said. “Bring the screen down!” On cue, a screen began to descend from an opening in the cafeteria ceiling. Minhyuk and Sanha rolled a projector into the cafeteria. “As you can see, this footage may look like Seolhyun, but it's not,” Cathy put the footage on display. “Seolhyun’s hair is dark brown, not light brown, and her hair runs down to almost her waist and does not stop at her chest. The second piece of evidence is the lips. Seolhyun has naturally full gorgeous lips, the lips you see here are thin and inhabit desert creatures. Third piece of evidence is that every clip during that time of night was deleted except for the one of her supposedly taking pictures of the uniform. Why would someone delete every piece of evidence of them lurking about the school at night except for the one piece of evidence that would make them completely unsuspected? Because Jinwoo was framing her! You can see him arguing with Myungjun in this video which will then lead into a long pause, then Myungjun leaving with Seolhyun. There's no video of Jinwoo inside the computer lab because he deleted every piece of evidence in there except for the one of him approaching the computer lab. The same can be said for the Changgu and Hyojong issue. You can see Jinwoo entering the band room and the gym and walking towards the greenhouse area and getting Peppero from the vending machine, but none of him in the gym, in the band room, or in the greenhouse. Speaking of Peppero,” Cathy changed the footage to the picture of Hyojong and Changgu supposedly kissing. “If you zoom in on this photo of their side profiles, you can clearly see that there is something in between. Matcha green tea Peppero.”

Jinwoo was impressed at how much work Cathy put into her expose. Jinwoo was sure he could slither his way out of it, though.

“You can see Jinwoo in this video getting exactly that,” Cathy smiled. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Your evidence is well put together and all but, how do you know for sure it's me? You say all this stuff about me entering rooms and such but I have friends. I went to band room to see Bin because we're friends. I went to the gym to see Kris play basketball. I went to the greenhouse because Myungjun wanted to take pictures of the plants.” Jinwoo continued. “Have you ever thought it was someone framing me, though? As you all know, Minhyuk and my former team betrayed me. I know I'm not well liked. This could just be a ploy to ruin my reputation further. Minhyuk and I have the same lips; it could've been him trying to make it look like I framed Seolhyun so you had the opportunity to frame me for framing.” Jinwoo was starting to confuse himself. “And tell me how would someone be able to delete all that footage? It would take hours and hours and I like my spare time to be spent elsewhere.”

“Even if that was the case,” Cathy began. “Isn't it too much of a coincidence that the fine arts and sport teams both received extra funding just as Changgu and Seolhyun were exiled?”

“Huh,” Jinwoo laughed. “So you think someone doing good deeds during an election season isn't normal? You're joking, right? I want votes, money buys votes, their votes were open. I won't lie about how I distributed funding.”

“Well,” Cathy wasn't expecting such solid rebuttals. “What does the audience think.”

There were murmurs among the crowds, tension hung in the air. There was a lot of shrugging and a lot of “eh” faces because of the points Jinwoo had made. The consensus of the audience seemed to one that was mostly neutral. When the chatter died down, no one cheered on Jinwoo or Cathy. No one seemed to know what to believe.

“Well,” Jinwoo grunted as he got up. “It seems that you're trying to excuse me without proper evidence. I don't know about you, but I've got places to be. I'll see all of you later.” Jinwoo left the silent cafeteria on that note, smiling to himself. 

✲


	2. To Fall From Your Throne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh wow tbh i meant to post this looooongggg time ago i think i finished this chapter after 2 weeks (???) chapter 1 but my beta got rly busy and couldn’t edit it and then i just forgot about it it’s still not proofread bc my beta has still been SUPPPLERRR busy but i wanted to post it anyway so warning: spelling mistake grammar and all that stuff

“He won’t be getting away with it this time,” Cathy slammed her fist on the desk. The council-in-waiting had received some ‘anonymous’, generous funding. They knew who it was from. Jinwoo was obviously teasing them, knowing that they knew what he was up to but had failed to reveal his schemes. Of course, Dongmin insisted that they accept the money because it was money after all. So now they have a new, long, ebony, meeting table in the middle of a 15 by 15 classroom. Dongmin was thinking about how they would have to buy a new table if Cathy kept trying to snap the current table in half. “We know what he's doing but we have to find out who he's going to strike next.” 

“Why not just tell both the candidates?” Dongmin suggested. 

“What if one is conspiring with him? Then he’ll know that we’re doing to him what's he’s going to do to us!” Cathy slammed her fist on the table again.”

“At this rate Cathy,” Sanha spoke. “You're gonna go crazy and I don't know if crazy people are allowed to be in presidential campaigns.”

“You're making this really complicated,” Mijoo was filing her nails. “Jinwoo tricked Changgu into thinking he would help him, I’m sure he's not conspiring with anyone unless it's to betray them later for his own benefits.”

“That doesn't solve any problems you airheaded bitch,” Cathy rolled her eyes. “Okay, maybe he's not teaming up with anyone to murder Dongmin but we still need to warn the other two about his little plan.”

“Who’s left in the running?” Dongmin asked.

“Yein and Yuta,” Minhyuk replied. “Yein has deep ties in the academics and Yuta is a foreign exchange student so I’m sure Jinwoo wants to pull votes from both those demographics which leaves the normal student body votes with Dongmin.”

“How is he even getting votes?” Cathy asked. “It's not like he's very likeable it's really weird to see people actually vote for him. You'd think that when he removed Seolhyun and Changgu from their positions of power the people in fine arts and sports would vote for someone likeable.” 

“Extra funding,” Changgu sighed. “I overheard Johnny talking about how cool Jinwoo is for fixing the gym up and even giving them some more of that sound board stuff to reduce the noise of basketballs echoing. He even gave the football team some new turf for their field.”

“The journalism club all got new computers,” Seolhyun added. “And the fashion club got new, more expensive materials to work with. The art club got new supplies. He knows how to sway people's votes.”

Every time Dongmin’s team would discuss Jinwoo’s exploits Dongmin couldn't help but be fascinated by how much thought and effort he put into his plans. Yea, he was supposed to be his nemesis but it was only Jinwoo who thought that way. Dongmin didn't know if his kink was people with authoritative personalities or something but he couldn't help like Jinwoo more and more every time he did something to secure his place as the school’s president. Maybe it was just how passionate he was about it that made Dongmin semi-swoon every time he thought about how cool Jinwoo was. 

“Dongmin!” Cathy was snapping her fingers in Dongmin’s face. “You're always spacing out.”

“Sorry,” Dongmin replied. “What were we talking about?”

“How we’re gonna warn Yein and Yuta. Jinwoo will find out if they know something and he’ll just work around it. We have to be sneaky. We have to think like him.”

“Well, we just have to be clever about it, he’s just really consistent with what he does so we have to be really consistent too.” Dongmin said. 

“You know, you're always complimenting him,” Cathy raised one eyebrow. “Maybe you’re the one who’s conspiring with him?”

“Cathy, if you keep this act up you're going to bring our whole team down because you're acting super paranoid,” Dongmin pointed out. “It would be really weird if I was conspiring with him since he's trying to take me down. Maybe you should take a few days off. The Sherlock act has really gotten to your head and I’m afraid that you're gonna be the one to kill one of us.” 

“I'm just trying to look out for this whole operation. You dragged me into this!” Cathy snapped.

“Why are you getting mad for no reason?” Mijoo asked. “This is seriously going to your head you're going to end up being like Jinwoo if you keep this up.”

“Whatever!” Cathy shouted. “Minhyuk!” She pointed to the boy. “You and Yein are in the same year so go find her and just tell her that Jinwoo is going to come for her neck, okay?”

“If you say so Cathy Stalin,” Minhyuk muttered. “I'll be back.”

“And, Mijoo,” Cathy whipped around to face the girl. “You're close with Yein and you don't do shit around here so you're going too!”

“Last time I checked, Dongmin is the boss around here not you.” Mijoo set her nail filer aside to stick her tongue out at Cathy.

Cathy whipped around again, Minhyuk was afraid she’d get whiplash at this rate, and glared at Dongmin. Dongmin didn't think the idea of his jugular veins be slashed was a fun idea so he gave the Jinwoo-In-The-Making a curt nod of approval. Mijoo threw her head back and groaned in obvious disapproval but that's the only sign of protest that she made. “Come on, Minhyuk,” Mijoo walked passed him and grabbed his arm. “We’re gonna leave the Soviet Union ruled by Cathy Stalin and make our escape to Western Germany.” Mijoo broke into a run with Minhyuk’s arm in her hand when she heard Cathy yell her name.

Minhyuk and Yein weren’t that close so he was glad that Cathy demanded Mijoo guide him since she knew where she hung out. For some reason Yein was always in the library with her face shoved into some encyclopedia. 

“Yein isn't really that studious you know,” Mijoo began. “It's all an act.”

“How do you pretend to be smart?” Minhyuk asked, he was ready to take a few tips.

“Beats me,” Mijoo shrugged. “Honestly I'm surprised she wasn't Jinwoo’s first target. Like, yea, sure, Changgu is an airhead and Seolhyun isn't the sharpest tool in the shed but Yein is about as bright as a rock reflecting the sun. I won't be surprised if by tomorrow she’s already down for the count.”

“Is there any particular reason she ‘pretends’ to be studious?” Minhyuk and Mijoo had reached the library. 

“She saw this picture on Twitter saying finger her brain not her pussy, and now she's hooked on finding a guy that will like her for her smarts but it's going to be a problem once they fall for her so called smarts and finds out she has none. It's really stupid.” Mijoo replied.

Minhyuk cringed at the mention of the word pussy but he had to keep the cool image he imagined for himself in his head and pretended like he had heard that word a million times before. Entering the library, Mijoo was about to yell Yein’s name until she realized she was in a library and all that came out was a very loud squeak that started with the “Ye” sound. This earned a glare from each and every person in the library and Mijoo gave them all a very nervous smile. “She's usually reading encyclopedias.” Mijoo whispered to Minhyuk.

Minhyuk nodded as he and Mijoo slowly made their way to that specific section of the library. “Do people actually read encyclopedias?” Minhyuk asked.

“No,” Mijoo responded. “But, like I said, Yein’s an idiot so she reads them thinking that she’ll look smart. I’m really surprised that it's been working out for her so far. So either she's actually super smart or everyone is just super dumb and just thinking about those two possibilities has been throwing off my equilibrium.” Mijoo whispered as they weaved their ways between bookshelves. This is the first time Minhyuk has been to the library and he was becoming disorientated by the rows of books and all the different colors of each of the their spines.

“How did she become the figurehead of academics if she's actually dumb?” Minhyuk inquired.

“She's pretty, I’ll give her that. Most of the people associated in academics are boys so it was easy for her to get favor over all the other girls.” Mijoo explained.

“That doesn’t seem fair.” Minhyuk frowned.

“Jinwoo took down two candidates within the span of a month, acquired votes, ruined their reputation, spent the school’s money as he pleases and the principal still hasn't taken action. This school is anything but fair.”

“I guess you're right,” Minhyuk shrugged.

“There she is,” Mijoo pointed. “God, this library is so unnecessarily big.”

Yein was sitting at a table, as usual. If you had come in at any other angle, it would look as if she was actually absorbed in the encyclopedia she was reading. Mijoo and Minhyuk had come from behind her though, so they could see she was on her phone with the book tilted upwards to hide her face. 

“Hey, dumb ass,” Mijoo greeted as she grabbed Yein’s ponytail. “Me and my buddy over here have come to warn you about something miss Candidate.”

Yein let out a yelp and grabbed Mijoo’s hands that had a tight hold on her head. Because her hands were now occupied with something new, she had let her encyclopedia drop with her phone inside it. Deciding that a sore head was better than a ruin reputation, Yein quickly let go off Mijoo’s hand and picked up her book. “Can you let go?”

“You speak pretty bad for someone who's supposed to be the face of academics,” Mijoo laughed. “It's just let, adding can just means you're asking me if I have the ability to let go and you didn’t even specify what to let go of. Let go of my doubts? My grades? I could go on.”

“Let go of my hair.” Yein demanded.

“Say please.” Mijoo teased.

“Please.” Yein whined.

“Complete sentences.” Mijoo clicked her tongue.

“Please, let go off my hair.” Yein said, sighing 

“Are you asking Minhyuk or me? I can't tell.” Mijoo tugged harder.

“Mijoo, please let go of my hair.” Yein whimpered.

“There we go,” Mijoo let go of the girl’s hair. “Anyway, back to what I was saying as a warning,” Mijoo circled the round table to take a seat that was facing Yein, Minhyuk followed her lead. “You know who Jinwoo is right? He's like 3 feet tall, filled to the brim with evil.”

“The one with the nose that kind of looks like a tree trunk?” Yein asked.

“Bingo,” Mijoo responded. “Yea, you know how all the candidates have been basically dropping like flies and what not?” 

“Yep, I've suddenly got an influx of votes but I'm still below Yuta,” Yein put her index finger to her chin. “Are you gonna tell me that Jinwoo is up to all of that?”

“Your mind amazes me sometimes,” Mijoo said. “Yes he is.”

“Well, I was speaking to him earlier and he said he wanted to do an alliance. He also mentioned that someone from Dongmin’s campaign would try to reimburse the idea that he was a bad person.” Yein was now tapping at her phone and speaking.

“Do you mean… reinforce?” Minhyuk asked.

“Ah, maybe it was that. Big words don't really stick in my head for too long.” Yein replied.

“So do you believe what he said?” Mijoo raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, he made some pretty good points back at the cafeteria last week. He did mention that Minhyuk could be behind all those crimes and since Jinwoo had known you guys would try to trick me with your reverse zoology, I think I have lots of reasons to trust him.” Yein nodded to herself in agreement.

“Whatever,” Mijoo rolled her eyes and exhaled. “Don't come crying to us when you get your reputation ruined and the academics people hate you forever.” Mijoo let the last syllable of forever chime.

Minhyuk didn't try to convince Yein because if Mijoo couldn't then he definitely couldn't. Minhyuk and Mijoo weaved their way through the enormous library once again and headed back into the hallways. They both knew Cathy would probably rip their heads off for not trying hard to get Yein on their side but Dongmin would calm her down so they weren't too worried about that.

“What do you think Jinwoo is up to?” Minhyuk asked.

“I don't know, that guy is really creative with his little plots and stuff. Whatever it is, he’ll probably get away with it.” Mijoo sighed.

“Well, Cathy has become just as passionate as Jinwoo has so maybe we have a chance of stopping him before his plans snowball.” Minhyuk opened the door for Mijoo once they reached the classroom.

“Miss Cathy? Miss Cathy!” Mijoo called as she entered the classroom. “We have some bad news for you. Jinwoo convinced Yein he isn't spawn of the devil and yea. She doesn't trust us but I wouldn't blame her we have a crazy girl as campaign manager so-”

“Don't continue your sentence.” Cathy said through her teeth.

“Whatever, I'm just saying. Jinwoo is getting votes because he’s cleaned up his image.” Mijoo shrugged and went to go sit at her usual spot on the windowsill.

“Should we warn Yuta?” Doyoung asked. “Taeyong and I can tell him.”

“If he convinced Yein, Jinwoo has most likely convinced Yuta too.” Dongmin replied.

“It wouldn't hurt to try.” Taeyong said. 

“We’ll do it later,” Dongmin was once again impressed by how quick Jinwoo was with his work. “For now we have to keep our eye out for any suspicious activity that may be happening.”

“You mean like this?” Jenny entered the room holding a flier.

“Give that to me.” Cathy saw she was holding a paper and held out her hand.

“I mean, it's a pretty normal thing to do but if it was Jinwoo’s idea then there's something behind it.” Jenny said, handing Cathy the flier.

“Come watch the marvelous quiz show between candidates Yein and Jinwoo,” Cathy read out loud. “So, he's pitting himself against one of the most popular academic students in a quiz show? Sounds like a stupid move. Maybe he's not as smart as we thought.”

“Oh god.” Mijoo groaned and leaned her head back on the wall.

“Why are you so loud?” Cathy snapped.

“Yein isn't really that smart,” Minhyuk spoke on Mijoo’s behalf. “It's just an act according to Mijoo. Somehow she fooled everyone she's smart by shoving her face in an encyclopedia. She only won the vote for head of the academic club because she's pretty.”

“How do you act-” Dongmin began.

“It's- Let’s just not get into that.” Mijoo cut him off.

✲

“A quiz show? With the head of the academics club? That’s pretty bold.” Choa said.

“The girl isn't as smart as she lets on. If you sit down and have a 20 minute conversation with her it becomes really obvious. It was made even more apparent when I convinced her that I was on her side,” Jinwoo replied. “And she reads encyclopedias. You don't read encyclopedias. And she wouldn't have to use one since we have the internet. If she can fool everyone in that library into thinking she's smart she actually might be a challenge.”

“How did you convince her?” Choa pried.

“She's obsessed with looking smart for whatever reason. It wasn’t hard to get her to agree to this since she insists on showing off her wits.” Jinwoo shrugged.

“So you're going to do this quiz show fair and square?” Choa rested her chin on her palm.

Jinwoo laughed. “No. I'm not a fucking idiot. I’m stealing the answer key just in case she's working with Dongmin and this is all a trap.”

“How would it be a trap if you were the one who proposed the idea of a quiz show?” Choa asked.

“I don’t know. It could happen though. Yein is stupid but she's purposely agreeing to this when she knows she can't do it. Either she's lied so much she actually believes she's smart or there's something going on behind the scenes. Either way, I’m one hundred and one percent sure that I'm going to win.” Jinwoo pushed his chair out. “Anyway, I have business to do.”

“You know where the answer key is?” Choa asked.

“I saw one of the girls who's hosting the quiz show give it to a Taekwondo club member. Maybe it's because people are intimidated by them.” Jinwoo shrugged.

“Do you think this will work?” Choa was curious if Jinwoo had as much confidence as he had in the last two missions. 

Jinwoo turned to face Choa at the doorway. “If there's one thing people hate in this school it's dishonesty. When the student body finds out that Yein is lying they'll definitely drop her. Plus, who would want a liar as their president?” Choa laughed at the irony of that statement and watched Jinwoo leave the room.

Jinwoo was on good terms with the Taekwondo club because they were a sports club. When he walked into their practice they all greeted him with fake smiles plastered on their faces. He knew they acted like that just because they wanted more money funneled down their throats. 

“Hey guys,” Jinwoo greeted. “Wow, the room look really nice with all the new equipment and can I just say you guys look really good in your little outfits,” Jinwoo patted the chest of a random member. “Anyway, I know you guys have the answer key because Sojung told me and she said that she needs it back because when she was going to print another copy of the answer key for the second host she accidentally deleted it! Isn't that funny,” Jinwoo forced out the fakest laugh he could muster to see if the club would laugh along with him, they did. “So, just hand it over and I’ll be on my way.”

No one hesitated to give him the answer key he wanted but Jinwoo saw the disappointment on their faces. He found it amusing. He took the answer key and left the Taekwondo club’s room. Lost in his own world of satisfaction, he didn't realize he was on a collision course with a certain someone.

“Can you watch where you're fuckin-,” Jinwoo was on the ground, eyes closed, sitting on the answer key. He suddenly remembered his “newfound” personality. “I mean, sorry, my bad,” He looked up and when he saw who it was he frowned. “Nevermind, fuck you.” Jinwoo dusted himself off and got up, holding the answer key behind his back.

“Hi, Jinwoo,” Dongmin saw that Jinwoo had his hands behind his back. He found it odd since Jinwoo usually never had something to hide. “What are you hiding?”

“A leprechaun you nosy prick,” Jinwoo rolled his eyes. “I have somewhere to be, are you gonna let me go or are you gonna step in front of me to block my path if I go left or right?”

“Step in front of you.” Dongmin beamed.

“God, you're so annoying. You've been getting even braver since you started running for president and receiving most of the votes and it's really starting to piss me off.” Jinwoo growled.

“What do you have behind you?” Dongmin quickly change the subject by reaching behind Jinwoo to try and get whatever he was holding.

Jinwoo quickly dodged the strike and glared at him. “You really want me to bury you six feet under, don’t you? 

“It would go along well with your whole entire plan.” Dongmin made another grab. 

Jinwoo stepped back again. It continued like this until the two scaled the entire hallway. Jinwoo wasn't sure how much time had passed but he forget about the things he was supposed to be doing right now. It had been awhile since he had stopped thinking about all the scheming and plans for world domination. Deep down Jinwoo knew he was sort of enjoying this bit of free time even if it was with his sworn enemy. 

Playtime was finally over once Jinwoo was backed into a wall. The pair were in a very suggestive position. Jinwoo didn't know why, but Dongmin had his hand over Jinwoo’s head and since he was almost double his height he was looking down on Jinwoo whilst Jinwoo was looking up to him. They were both panting, chest rising and lowering, foreheads swamped with sweat as strands of hair were caked to their foreheads; It had been an intense battle without any conversation from one end of the hallway to this one. 

They stayed like that for three whole minutes and Jinwoo could read the atmosphere all too well, he wasn't stupid. There was a tension so thick in the air he could've tasted it if the smell of Dongmin’s mint breath wasn't so overpowering. Tension, lots and lots and lots and lots of repressed sexual tension from Jinwoo always being angry at Dongmin and Dongmin finding it increasing endearing as he built of his confidence. Half of Jinwoo wanted to clear his throat so they could break from whatever trance they were under and the other half wanted to stay like this for another three minutes just to see what would happen. Jinwoo knew what would happen. The tyrant decided to go with the former and quickly broke eye contact while clearing his throat.

Adjusting his tie, Jinwoo headed down the hallway without another word.

“Hey, Choa,” Jinwoo greeted. He flopped into the chair and slapped the answer key on her desk. “Ask key, retrieved.”

“That's good but,” Choa examined Jinwoo’s face. “You're all pink and sweaty. Did one of the Taekwondo members fight you?”

“No, but that would’ve been a better alternative,” Jinwoo slouched in his seat and loosened his tie. He began fanning himself. “I just had a run in with someone, unfortunately. We got into a debate of sorts…” Jinwoo trailed off, recalling the very recent memory. “But, I’m not here to talk about any of that. I found the answer key and now you have to help me memorize it.”

✲

“You've got everything memorized?” Bin asked. 

They were backstage in the auditorium preparing for the quiz show. Jinwoo let Bin and Myungjun know that he was planning on cheating since they had both already been apart of his schemes before. Jinwoo had put enough intimidation into them to know that they wouldn't tell anyone. He just needed one or two hypemen now that Minhyuk had joined the dark side and they were the perfect candidates.

“I spent the rest of February memorizing that damn answer key,” Jinwoo said through gritted teeth. “I better fucking win.”

“Well, you said it yourself, Yein is as dumb as a bag of rocks. I'm sure it won't be hard to beat her.” Bin assured.

“You're right,” Jinwoo sighed. “How do I look?”

Bin hesitantly adjusted Jinwoo’s bow tie. “There, all good.”

“Good,” Jinwoo straightened his blazer. “Root for me or whatever.” Jinwoo stepped on stage. To his surprise, lots of people cheered for him. Not letting the shock show in his face, Jinwoo waved to the crowd. Jinwoo put on his most charismatic smile and stood at his podium. After he entered, Yein made her entrance. The cheers weren't as loud as Jinwoo’s but quite a few groups outside of the academics department seemed to favor Yein. Yein gave did her small waves and flashed her friendly smile and stepped up to her very own podium. The cheers went on as the two competitors took their spots. The crowd was highly in favor of Jinwoo, he knew it was just because they wanted more money thrown their way but he wasn’t going to complain about the level of morale they had even if it was fake. The host, Sojung, waited for the cheers to die down before speaking up.

“Thank you all for coming! I am Chu Sojung, your host for today.” Sojung greeted as she viewed the full house. She wasn’t expecting many people to come since the prospect of a quiz show sounded pretty boring. “I’m glad that I see so many of you here today for our very first ever presidential quiz show!” The crowd responded just how Sojung wanted to and they all broke into loud applause. “Now, enough of the formalities,” Sojung said over the hyped crowd. “Let’s introduce each of our contestants with a small interview. First we have Jung Yein.”

Yein waved to the crowd once again. “Hi everyone, my name is Jung Yein.”

“So, Yein, by participating in this competition what do you plan to prove to everyone?”

“Well, I want to prove to everyone that not only can I be a resilient president but also a smart one too!” Jinwoo listened to Yein’s manner of speaking and wonder how anyone could believe the girl even had an ounce of smarts in her head.

“How do you plan on being resilient?” Sojung asked, curious.

“Just to be dependable like any other resilient person would be.”

Sojung gave Yein a look of confusion, the crowd copied Sojung’s facial expression, and Jinwoo stifled a laugh by pretending to cough. “Do you mean reliable? By any chance?’ Sojung asked, carefully.

Yein put a finger to her chin. “Actually yea, I meant that. Sometimes I get those words confused because they have very similar letters and stuff. It happens to the best off us, you know.”

“Yea, I guess it does,” Sojung laughed it off, hoping that this was Yein’s attempt at being somewhat humorous. “What skills do you plan on showing off during this quiz show? Anything special?’

“My smarts.” Yein nodded to herself.

“Just smarts? Nothing else?” Sojung raised a brow.

“Is there anything else I can show during a quiz show?” Yein asked.

“I guess, you’re right,” Sojung let a heavy amount of air out of her nose to simulate a laugh. “Now, onto Jinwoo!

The crowd broke into a loud applause for Jinwoo, this was the third time this happened so he wasn’t taken aback. He waved to everyone and put on a toothy green to show everyone that he had supposedly changed and was much friendlier now. “So, Jinwoo, introduce yourself.”

“Hello, I’m Park Jinwoo. Current and future president.” Jinwoo gave another charismatic smile and the crowd went wild.

“The same question that I asked Yein is being passed off to you.” Sojung said.

“What I want to prove during this quiz show is that not only am I a charitable, good looking, president,” The crowd laughed at Jinwoo’s humor. “But also one who is capable and has plenty on intelligence.”

“And what do you plan on showing us today?” Sojung asked again.

“I plan on showing you all charisma, quick thinking, rational thoughts, and problem solving skills to show you that I am more than capable of being your president for my final year at this school.” The crowd erupted into an enormous applause at Jinwoo’s short interview.

“Alright, shall we get this started?” Sojung smiled and left the stage as a whiteboard was rolled in by another hostess.

“I’ll be the question giver or whatever,” This girl was much less charismatic than Sojung. “I hope you two study hard or something because if not you're probably end up being on the receiving of reticule and whatnot. And my name is Luda if anyone cares.” She said flatly into her mic.

The quiz show went on smoothly for the most part. Besides the interview, Yein hadn't slipped up once which threw Jinwoo off guard. All the questions that were given to her were answered swiftly and charmingly which happened to contradict her little slip up at the beginning of the match. Maybe Jinwoo’s suspicions were right and he was being tricked. Or maybe she was dumb like Jinwoo had observed. One thing Jinwoo keep noticing throughout the first half of the quiz show was that Yein kept touching her ear after Sojung asked a question. Yein’s ears were covered on both sides so it could just be inferred that her hair was tickling her ear and she was being as subtle as she could to relieve it but Jinwoo knew there was something much bigger going on here. He would have to have a word with Bin and Myungjun after the first half ended.

The first half ended in a draw, unsurprisingly. Jinwoo waved to everyone as he exited to the left down to his wingmen.

“You did really good!” Bin greeted with a smile.

“Yea, but so did Yein,” Jinwoo said, anger behind his voice. “She's cheating. A wireless device. She keeps tapping her ear like she's receiving a message or something. We need to find who's on the other end of the headset. I already know Dongmin is helping her out but I'm sure he's not the one feeding her information, he's not as stupid as he lets on.”

Bin nodded taking all the information in. “So what do we do?”

Jinwoo sighed. “I'll distract Dongmin, pull him away from his group. He's back here, I saw him and his team come backstage to get brownie points with the techies. It's a win-win for them right now. Myungjun is here right?”

“Uh yea,” Bin replied. “Myungjun!” He yelled. Myungjun responded and lightly jogs towards the pair.

“Someone’s wiring the answers to Yein, we need to find whoever it is.” Bin explained.

“How do we do that?”

“I'm going to pull Dongmin away from his little group or whatever, we have some… things to discuss. The break is over in 15 minutes I can keep him distracted that long. You're job, Myungjun, is to distract the rest of those idiots while Bin sneaks around on their side of the stage and finds the headset lying around or being worn by whoever the fuck. Got it?” Jinwoo asked.

Bin and Myungjun nodded in response as they followed Jinwoo to the right of the stage. During competitions, backstage was divided into two sections. The right and the left. No side was allowed to enter the other side but this wasn't a very serious conversation so the rule was hardly stressed.

“Dongmin!” Jinwoo called as he entered there side of the stage. “We need to talk.” The president demanded as he grabbed Jinwoo’s arm and yanked him back to the left side where no one was currently. He left Bin and Myungjun to fend for themselves. Jinwoo didn't stop walking until they were in the darkest corner backstage where no one would be able to see them. Jinwoo put himself up against a wall while still holding on to Dongmin.

“Kiss me.” Jinwoo demanded.

If Jinwoo could see in the dark he would be able to see the shock on his face. Dongmin’s voice revealed all the emotions he was feeling though. “W-what?”

“I'm not stupid. You know you want to. A few weeks ago? You don't remember that? The hallway. Panting, mouths barely touching, you had me pinned against a wall just like this. You already know I'm not dumb. I can read an atmosphere.” Jinwoo replied.

“So,” Dongmin started. “You want to kiss? Like my mouth on yours?”

“Oh my god.” Jinwoo rolled his eyes and grabbed the back of Dongmin’s neck to forced Dongmin to kiss him. Their lips smashed together and Jinwoo jammed his tongue down Dongmin’s throat. It was awkward, wet and sloppy but neither of the two were complaining. The only  
part that Jinwoo could really complain about was that Dongmin didn't know where to put his hands and they kept shifting everywhere, but they eventually found themselves wrapper around Jinwoo’s back. Overall, Jinwoo didn't really mind this part of his distraction at all. After about three minutes of not coming up for air, the two finally broke the kiss.

“What just happened?” Dongmin asked, out of breath.

Jinwoo shrugged tiredly and smashed their faces together again. While the two were making out in the darkest corner backstage, Jinwoo hoped that Myungjun and Bin were doing their jobs as well as he was.

Fortunately for the duo, Myungjun had successfully distracted the group by doing his camel impression and various gags that he had learned while hanging around the clown cub; it's apart of the Fine Arts. Bin has snuck passed the group and went to their side of the stage. He noticed Sanha and Minhyuk crouching in a corner of the auditorium and decided to ask them if there were any other people.

Bin grabbed Minhyuk’s shoulder and turned him around. “Hey, Minhyu-” Bin couldn't even finished his sentence when a flashy Bluetooth earpiece caught his eye. “So it’s you?” Bin asked, shocked.

“I-it's me what?” Minhyuk stuttered.

“Wow, cheating, I expected it from Jinwoo but you guys? Wow, just wow.” Bin shook his head 

“Jinwoo uses unfair methods all the time! Why can't we cheat?” Sanha pouted.

“Yes, well, once you guys are as smart as that clever bastard you can go ahead and cheat as much as you like.” Bin grabbed Minhyuk’s ear and pulled the earpiece.

“Don't tell my mom, please…” Minhyuk mumbled.

“Tell mine! I don't care!” Sanha crossed his arms.

“Are you sure about that?” Bin questioned.

“No.” Sanha slouched his shoulders.

“That's what I thought,” Bin snapped. “Both of you give me your hands,” Sanha and Minhyuk put out their hands as if they were about to be smacked by a ruler. Bin took of his blazer, pretending to assert dominance, and when the two flinched Bin quick tied their hands together with his blazer. Bin finished his work by knocking the two over so they wouldn't get up and tell their group what Bin had just taken from them. Bin had been helping Myungjun pin up newsletters around the school prior to coming to the quiz show so he had a handy roll of tape in his pocket. “I'll free you guys once the quiz show is done, I can't have you guys ruining the plan by running your mouths.” Bin said as he sealed their lips shut. After his work was finished Bin strided off, his hypocrisy trailing behind him. He slipped back into the crowd of people Myungjun was entertaining and laughed along with them.

Back to the left of backstage, Jinwoo and Dongmin were still eating each other’s faces out and Jinwoo was so close to just jumping on Dongmin and wrapping his legs around him because he needed that little bit of extra contact, but he couldn't get a hard-on at this point in time. When Sojung announced that there were about three minutes left until the contestants Jinwoo abruptly broke this kiss. Panting hard, Jinwoo wiped the spit from his mouth.

“Good talk,” He said, tiredly and patted Dongmin on the chest. Looking down, Jinwoo could see Dongmin wasn't as fortunate as he was to have such good control over himself. “If we're ever in a room alone, which I highly doubt which is why I'm being crazy enough to suggest this, I'll take care of that for you.” It was probably the euphoria speaking but Jinwoo felt like what he was saying was half true as he walked away.

“We got it!” Bin shouted to Jinwoo, raising the headset as their president made his way back.

Jinwoo gave them a silent thumbs up, still trying to catch his breath.

“You don't look too good.” Myungjun commented.

“Yea, you're hair is messy and you're panting and you're lips are-” The gears turned in Bin’s head. “Don't tell me you-”

“I did,” Jinwoo nodded. “Good job on the headpiece thing. Pat my hair down a bit and make it look presentable while I catch my breath.”

Bin tried his best to make Jinwoo’s hair look presentable with only his hand and he thinks he did a pretty good job. Hopefully the crowd did too. “Alright, I think that looks alright, I guess,” Bin adjusted Jinwoo’s tie so it was practically choking him. “Much better.”

Jinwoo yanked on the tie and fixed it himself. “Wish me luck,” He said as he stepped on stage. “Step on that headset so they don't try to get it back.” He followed up as he ascended the staircase. 

“Alright, now that the break is over let's welcome back our contestants!” Sojung said, enthusiastically. 

The crowd cheered once again, this time more with more intensity because the score was tied. “Now, the questions are gonna get a little more difficult so I hope you guys are ready!” Sojung cheered into her microphone. “Are you ready, Luda?”

“I guess,” Luda said. “First question of the second and final half is: What was the name of the island that Charles Darwin made observations on while on the voyage the HMS Beagle was taking? Yein, this question is for you.”

Yein smiled and pretended to fix a lock of hair by her ear so that she could tap her Bluetooth device. She gave an awkward laugh when there was no immediate responses like the last few times. “I wasn't expecting a question like this,” Yein said awkwardly. “Science and stuff isn't my strong point.”

“But you answered a chemistry question almost instantly last round.” Luda replied flatly.

“Well, chemistry is a branch of science.” Yein said.

“It's still science…” Luda said, dumbfounded.

“Well, I'm only a sophomore. I can't know everything, you know!” Yein smiled. The crowd was just as confused as Luda, they all started whispering. She was supposed to be the head of the academics so her not knowing something as basic as that put an odd taste in her supporters’ mouths. 

“So, you're saying you don't have an answer?” Luda asked.

“Yes.” Yein nodded.

“Well, okay,” Luda shrugged and turned to Jinwoo. “While Charles Darwin was on Galápagos Islands, what book did her write?”

“He wrote the book, Journal and Remarks which is most commonly known as the Voyage of the Beagle.” Jinwoo replied.

“Point for Jinwoo,” Luda said as she made another tally mark on the whiteboard behind her. “The score is now eleven to ten. Let's hope Yein is good at other subjects this time,” The crowd laughed and Yein tried her best to cover her now red cheeks. “Alright, second question. Yein. What is our writing system, Hangul, based on?”

Yein tapped her ear again, hoping that it was working this time or that Minhyuk and Sanha were just on a bathroom break or something. After about a 20 second awkward pause, Yein’s face fell. “Uh, Chinese? I think?” Yein said, unsure. Jinwoo laughed internally at how stupid she looked but a part of him, a very tiny part mind you, felt the tiniest bit of sorry for her since she was being slowly humiliated in front of a crowd of people that respected her. 

“Wrong,” Luda said. “Jinwoo, I'm gonna give you the same question I gave Yein.”

“Our current writing system came from Hanja which was similar was very similar to Chinese but a few characters were unique to Hanja or modified from the Chinese language.” Jinwoo said, confidently as the crowd cheered for him. 

“Okay, on to the third question-” 

“I think- Sorry Luda,” Yein cut her off. “I think I'm gonna give this win to Jinwoo,” The crowd went from a few lingering cheers for Jinwoo to completely silent. “But, thank you, everyone, for coming out here today and supporting me. I will receive the title of loser with gratitude.” Yein gave a small bow and walked off stage. Jinwoo couldn't help but mentally scoff.

“Well,” Luda started erasing the whiteboard with tally makes. “There you have it everyone. Our winner is Jinwoo.” The crowd went from an awkward silence to loud cheers. The academics department were clapping with abysmal looks on their faces, just what Jinwoo had hoped for. Waving and bowing, Jinwoo gave his thanks and walked off stage. Backstage, Bin was untying Sanha and Minhyuk from his makeshift bondage and Myungjun had already fled to the journalism room to avoid Cathy. Unfortunately, the exit to the hallways was on the right so Jinwoo would have to walk through Dongmin and probably Cathy which he wasn't looking forward to.

As he walked through the dimly light part of auditorium, he saw his opposition with dark looks on their faces. Yein looked on the verge of tears, Jinwoo told himself he didn't care that she was publicly humiliated. 

“Well, look who it is,” Cathy jeered. “Don't you have somewhere to be?”

“I see you take after your partner here,” Jinwoo gestured to Yein. “The exit is this way you dumb ass. I didn't want to have to make small talk with you and your little band of white knights but I think I have a few moments to spare.”

“At least I don't seduce the person that I’m working against.” Cathy snapped.

“Me? Seduce? I’d rather jump from the rooftop of this school than lay a finger on this,” Jinwoo gestured to Dongmin. He knew exactly what she was talking about, but Cathy was almost as clever as Jinwoo. He couldn't blatantly brag about his plans out loud because there could be a chance that Cathy could produce an audiobook out of the stuff he says. “Well, you 15 seconds of fame is up. I have people to greet.” Jinwoo spat and strided passed the group to greet all his current supporters and soon-to-be academic supporters. 

✲

The rest of March and most of April were the most quiet months Jinwoo has had in awhile. Jinwoo secured support from the academics department but throwing money at them after they were stranded in the middle sea without a figurehead. That took most of March and April was his month off. Well, most of April was his month off. Until now. 

Bin bursted into the now one man student council with a flier in his hands. “Have you seen this?” Bin asked, shoving the paper in his face.

Jinwoo snatched the paper out of Jinwoo’s hands with irritation in his gesticulation. “If you would let me see it then maybe I could give you a straight answer,” Jinwoo eyed the paper. “Exclusive interview between all three presidential candidates?” He read out loud.

“Do you know about any of that?”’Bin asked.

“No,” Jinwoo groaned. “I was going to try and be civil for a month-”

“You can still be civil in an interview. Just lie like you always do.” Bin suggested.

“I guess you're right. And it's gonna be three people not two so I won't have to be alone with the devil himself.” Jinwoo said.

“Yea, the last time you were only with-”

“Don't finish your sentence.” Jinwoo warned.

“You're the one who did it, not me,” Bin shrugged. “Anyway, get your lies together and make sure to iron them out because Cathy is just as crazy as you are and I’m sure this is a scheme.”

“Yea, yea, I'll make flashcards and everything,” Jinwoo waved his hand in annoyance. “I guess this'll be a good chance to try and see what I can do to take Yuta down.”

According to the plan, Jinwoo would make up a lie, smile and wave at the camera, kiss a baby, shake the hands of the elderly, do the interview, and be on his way. But that all fell apart once Jinwoo decided he deserved a “paid leave” and didn't prepare for the interview at all. It's not like Jinwoo would have trouble going into the whole thing blind, but guidance would've been helpful. But his thoughts could be summed up to: “Oh well.”.

The week of the interview rolled in and Jinwoo made his way to the Digital Media room where all the techies hung out; it was actually just an offshoot-room from the library but the people in the club liked it to be called the Digital Media room and Jinwoo was all about pleasing the people. 

Making his way to said room, Jinwoo was greeted with an empty space and couches. Either someone murdered the production crew or they were on a break; Jinwoo hoped for the former because that means he could sleep in his one man council room. Sighing, Jinwoo flopped down on the couch and grabbed what he thought was the script that was set on the table. Flipping through it, Jinwoo could already predicted the second half without even having to look at it. It was a bunch of questions he had to answer with some scripted, bullshit, small talk with the other two candidates. Luckily it was only two because if it had been three more Jinwoo would have definitely lost it.

The door creaked open and Jinwoo looked up to see who it was. It was a fairly pretty girl, with thick brown hair, round, chubby face, and small eyes. “Oh, Jinwoo, you're here,” She fixed her round specs. “The name’s Mimi and this,” She held up the script she was holding. “Is the new script.”

“Why-”

“Because Yuta injured his ankle playing football over the weekend and is now on medical leave. It'll just be you and Dongmin today, sorry,” She bowed. “But that's okay? Right?”

A voiced nagged Jinwoo saying that he should just straight out say “No, it's not fucking okay, I’d rather stick my head through a broken window.” But what came out was. “Yea, that's fine.” Followed by a nod.

“Great,” Mimi chimed. “Haebin isn't here yet but I'm sure she will be soo-” Mimi was interrupted by the door creaking again. “Ah, Dongmin! It's great that you're here,” Mimi explained, turning to him. “It's gonna be just you and Jinwoo today. Yuta got his shit rocked. I don't have a copy of the script for you. Could've sworn I printed two. Anyway, while I go do that, feel free to make yourself comfortable.” Mimi smiled and squeezed her way passed Dongmin to go make more copies at the fat end of the library.

“Hey.” Dongmin greeted.

“Fuck you.” Jinwoo replied, hoping the venom in his voice was as obvious as usual. All the events that occurred between them recently had made him weary around Dongmin. He knew that the guy had a lot of leverage over him.

“Don't know whether I should take that literally or not.” Dongmin replied, with a playfully tone. His charming smile that he flashed to everyone ever so apparent on his face.

“Oh, ha ha, you're so fucking funny,” Jinwoo scrunched his face up in mockery. “I only did the things I did to distract you from the bigger picture.”

Dongmin was now seated at the recliner adjacent to Jinwoo. “And the words said after?” He teased.

“I have two heads and the one at the lower altitude was doing the talking.” Jinwoo replied, monotonously.

“So you're indirectly saying you enjoyed our time together?” Dongmin flashed his award winning smile again. “I'm glad we both felt the same way.”

Jinwoo sighed in defeat. “I'm just gonna pretend like we didn't just have that conversation.” 

“Speaking of conversation. About that promise you made…” Dongmin began.

Jinwoo was going to snap at Dongmin until he realized what he was asking. “You actually took that seriously?” Jinwoo scoffed.

“I distinctly remember you saying the only reason you were crazy enough to suggest something like that is because you didn't think we’d ever be alone together again,” Dongmin explained. “And look where we are now.”

“Did you get Cathy to beat up Yuta just so I could suck your dick?” Jinwoo asked flatly.

“No, but that could be arranged. Though I thought you were more of a hand job guy-”

“Let's,” Jinwoo cut off loudly. “End that right here.”

“I didn't hear a no.” Dongmin said in a sing song voice.

“I'm about two seconds away from coming over there and wringing your-” The familiar creak of the door stopped Jinwoo from finishing his sentence.

“We’re back!” Mimi said, entering with Haebin and Myungjun. Jinwoo let out a mental sigh of relief. He’d never be more happy to see Myungjun. “Why are you guys sitting so far apart?” Mimi frowned. “Sit next to each other come on.” Mimi made a vague gesture.

Jinwoo internally rolled his eyes but didn't externally protest. Dongmin flopped into the spot next to Jinwoo. Dongmin pressed his side into Jinwoo’s and the president was about two seconds away from putting Dongmin six feet under but he decided to wait for Mimi to comment on the unusual closeness. That never came. To Jinwoo’s misfortune, the interview began with Dongmin squishing Jinwoo into the end of the catch; they had been like this even while Dongmin was reviewing the script.

“We can't videotape this because the other members of the Digital Media club decided it would be a good idea to record the first segment of the news today. Sorry about that,” Haebin apologized and took out a recorder. “Let’s get started.”

“Why did you decide to run president? We’ll start with Dongmin.” 

“Hmm,” Dongmin placed his hand on Jinwoo’s thigh. “I'm not gonna lie, I started running for president because I thought it would build up some confidence? The pretty boy persona was really weighing me down, I think I've changed a lot for the better. The second reason was to see some changes around the school, of course. I want everything to be in tip-top shape for my fellow peers and I hoped I would be able to provide the best school experiences they've ever had.” Dongmin flashed his dazzling smile.

“Now, why did you decided to act on your presidency, Jinwoo?” Haebin asked.

Instead of giving into Dongmin and becoming frustrated, Jinwoo decided that two could play at his game and placed his hand on Dongmin’s thigh then started to grope it. “Well, as everyone knows, I was chosen by Tiffany to run for president because apparently she saw something in me. What it was? I'm not sure, but you can trust her judgement, I assure you. At first, I wasn't really up for being president. Tiffany had just squashed the belief that you could step on the Student Council president so I had a really big torch to carry. At first, I didn't care about the position. But, I don't know, somewhere along the line, I found myself becoming more passionate about the school and making it a better environment for everyone.” Jinwoo was only lying through his teeth by about 50%. The becoming more passionate thing was true but it was more about upholding a tradition rather than caring about what everyone else wanted. But that's what the people wanted to hear so he spoke it.

Haebin gave a silent nod. “What's the relationship between you two? Everyone wants to know.”

Letting go of Dongmin’s thigh, Jinwoo opened his mouth quickly to formulate a lie before Dongmin could say something stupid but the boy beat him to the punch. “At first, we weren't close at all. Jinwoo is someone who's very hard to approach but he has a lot of,” Dongmin purposely placed his index finger to his bottom lip while talking. “Good qualities going for him. Recent have brought use pretty close, if I might add.”

“Could Jinwoo tell us what these events are?” Mimi pried.

“Oh you know,” Jinwoo forced a small laugh. “Just run-ins with each other. Normal stuff like that. I guess since we're both in the running for the same thing we’ve crossed paths quite a bit.”

“We go on dates sometimes,” Dongmin said out of nowhere. Jinwoo shot him a fierce glare. Dongmin pretended to not expect the surprised looks on the interviewer’s faces. “Well, friend dates. You know hanging out after school and stuff. It's a fun time.”

“Do you have anything to add to this, Jinwoo?” Mimi was loving the content she was getting.

“Should I have something to add?” Jinwoo asked, feigning a tone of playfulness. “Being a presidential candidate is really stressful and everyone needs breaks sometimes. Since Dongmin and I are both under a lot of stress from campaigning we thought ‘Why not hang out together after school or something?’ to relieve the stress,” Jinwoo was glad he was a quick thinker. He knew Dongmin was just saying whatever popped into his head just to try and see Jinwoo flounder. “And before anyone asks, yes we’re fairly comfortable with each other. He tells me about his previous relationships sometimes.” Two could definitely play at that game.

“Previous relationships?” Myungjun asked.

“Ah, well,” Dongmin laughed awkwardly. “Who hasn't had boyfriends or girlfriends in the past?” Dongmin put his arm around Jinwoo. “It's mostly just funny stories about my relationships since I was so young and naive at the time. That's why I could tell him those things with ease.” Jinwoo was surprised at Dongmin’s ability to come up with a consistent response under pressure, I guess that's another reason why everyone thinks he's perfect.

The rest of the interview went on according to the script. Mimi said they had enough unscripted content to last them a decade so there was no need to do any more short unscripted segments like she had planned. It was all the same bullshit they you would expect. “What do you plan to do when you win?”, “Can you tell us why you’re the best choice for president?”, “Could you see yourself in this position two years ago?”. It was all the same boring answer and most of it was just repeating things they had already said before in debates. After about an hour, the interview was wrapped up and the presidential pair found themselves on an unused stairwell.

“Are you gonna shove your tongue down my throats again?” Dongmin asked. “Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“What the fuck was that?” Jinwoo asked, anger in his voice.

“What was what?” Dongmin asked, pretending to be clueless.

“We go on dates.” Jinwoo mimicked. 

“You know, you're a big hypocrite,” Dongmin said. “You think that's as bad as half the stuff you've done so far?”

Jinwoo ran his hands through his hair. “Yea, I guess you're right. Don't let this go to your head but you caught me off guard there. Why do you let Cathy do all the dirty work when you just implied you're more than capable of the thinking needed to plot and scheme.”

“Because Cathy enjoys that stuff,” Dongmin replied. “I'm not here to stoop to your level, I'm here to build character. And I think I've built a lot of character in these 4 months. I can talk to you while looking you in the eye and we practically did anal.”

“I'm gonna pretend like you didn't say that last part,” Jinwoo waved his hand. “Anyway, I gotta go, don't associate with me in public or whatever.”

“Wait,” Dongmin grabbed Jinwoo’s wrist before he could ascend the staircase. “Since you like challenges so much I have one for you.”

“What I do art challenges, I make plot for downfalls.” Jinwoo replied, looking back at Dongmin.

“Well, consider this a plot for your downfall,” Dongmin said. “If I win the election, date me.”

“Date… you?” Jinwoo was confused. “As in go on a date or?”

“As in the be my boyfriend date.” Dongmin said in the flattest tone possible.

“We hardly even know each other.” Jinwoo scoffed.

“Then get to know me.” Dongmin shot back.

“How?” Jinwoo was genuinely curious.

“Give me your phone number.” Dongmin held out his hand.

“Why would I do that?” Jinwoo asked.

“You said you wanted to know I would get to know you. This is how. When we text we won't talk about anything campaign related, no scheme discussion or anything. Just you, me, and 21 questions.” Dongmin kept his hand held out.

Jinwoo rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” He took out his phone, unlocked it, and placed it in Dongmin’s hand with the contacts page open. “Don't expect me to always respond to.”

“You’re a busy guy, I know,” Dongmin responded while punching in his contact information. “I texted myself on your phone so I could save your number.” He said handing back his phone.

“What's my contact name?” Jinwoo asked, hostilely. “It better not be something bad.”

“It's the puppy emoji.” Dongmin responded with a smile.

“Why the puppy?” Jinwoo asked, surprised.

“Because you look like one.” Dongmin replied.

Jinwoo was genuinely taken aback by the statement. Dongmin just implied that he was cute, unless he was talking about a pug or something. 

“What are you gonna save mine as?” Dongmin inquired.

“The X emoji so I know not to respond to you.” Jinwoo sighed.

It wasn't a joke but Dongmin laughed anyway. “Okay, Jinwoo. See you whenever.” Jinwoo took that as his cue to exit and did so without a goodbye. Ascending the staircase, Jinwoo reached the second floor of the building and began to walk. He felt his phone vibrate in his hand and unconsciously press the power button. A message with “Hey” sent from X emoji.

✲

Just like he had planned, Jinwoo spent the last week of April in relaxation. Out of pity, Jinwoo replied to Dongmin’s text instead of ignoring him like he had told the boy he would; Well, that's what Jinwoo told himself. Because there was no talk about campaigning or Jinwoo’s plots to bring Dongmin down from the ladder of popularity, they found out they could be civil with each other for a few hours. This came more as a surprise to Jinwoo than to Dongmin, the last time Jinwoo had a proper conversation with someone was when Minhyuk was still under his wing. Unless you count his conversations with Choa as normal discussions two acquaintances would have. Another one of those discussions would begin today.

Sitting in her office, Jinwoo still doesn't really know what to label it since he's 95% sure that she’s a student just like he is, he began to unravel his final set of plans for his reign of terror. “This was pretty difficult, even for me,” He began. “So far, we have the sports students, the fine arts students, and the students who break their legs over academics, but we’re missing two demographics. One is every regular student on campus, which unfortunately is the one Dongmin has a monopoly on and the second is the foreign exchange students. This month, we’ll be gunning for the foreign exchange students. Everyone loves foreign exchange students? Am I right, Choa?” 

“You are.” Choa nodded.

“They're sort of like idols, which is a very creepy way to put it but it's the truth isn't it? Everyone loves when someone from another country comes. It’s so exciting and everyone flocks to them. The whole student body wants to get to know them and you know what Yuta did? He capitalized off of this mentality; I've gotta give that to him, he has all of the foreign exchange students’ support and some of the regular kids. But popularity is fleeting and everyone will move on to the next big trend once a new, fresh face rolls around,” Jinwoo continued. “Meet Yuto Adachi, latest Japanese foreign exchange student,” Jinwoo took a small picture of him out of his blazer and handed it to Choa.

“He's handsome.” Choa commented.

“You're right,” Jinwoo agreed. “He's our key to bringing down Yuta. Get him on my side, rise him up in power, steal Yuta’s supporters and be tied with Dongmin for the election.” Jinwoo smiled.

“I'm not really up to date with the voting system,” Choa derailed for a bit. “How can you predict the outcome so accurately? Is the voting something that happens over time thing?”

“No, it's just an estimation of how many votes I’ll be getting at the election slash prom thing in June.” Jinwoo answered.

“Election and prom?” Choa asked.

“Well, it's not like they expected for there to be an election this year. They just mashed it in with prom. It'll be like prom king and queen except only one king. A lot of people are anticipating it though, I was surprised.” Jinwoo responded.

“Interesting,” Choa nodded. “Well, I’m sure you’re gonna be busy this much with so much to do. I suggest you get started now.”

“Good idea.” Jinwoo bid his way goodbye and set out to find Yuto.

It wasn't really hard to find the guy. He was your poster child for mysterious dudes with an aura that intrigues you. This meant that he was hanging out by the dumpster in the back of the school. Pinching his nose, Jinwoo approached the Japanese boy.

“Hi, I’m Park Jinwoo,” Jinwoo held out his hand to shake it. Yuto, leaning against the wall, turned his head slowly and eyed his hand. “Are you gonna shake it?”

Without a word, Yuto shook his hand. “Okay… I need your help, you seem like a straightforward guy so I won't hide anything from you.”

Yuto kept eye contact with Jinwoo. The president took this as a sign that he could continue with his little speech. “Have you ever wanted to be popular, Yuto?” Jinwoo asked.

Yuto scoffed in response. At least they were getting somewhere. “Hmm,” Jinwoo let go off his nose to place his index finger on his chin. “Have you ever wanted to be noticed by someone popular?” Jinwoo asked.

Yuto was silent this time. Jinwoo couldn't read his expression very well but something told him that it was somewhere close to what Yuto desired. “Have you ever wanted to be noticed by someone but they aren't particularly popular?” Yuto’s eyes darted to the right.

“Aha!” Jinwoo clapped and pointed his finger. “Noticed by this someone romantically?” Yuto looked down to his feet. “Well, Yuto Adachi, this little plan of mine could very well benefit the both of us. You get the person you want to notice you and I get something too.”

“What's your plan?” Yuto’s voice was fairly deep.

“Well, I need to sap someone’s popularity away and you’ll be getting said popularity. You just need to associate with me to benefit off this.” Jinwoo smiled. 

“And you'll hold up your end of the deal?” Yuto raised an eyebrow.

“There's no end of a deal to hold up. You get popular, you get noticed. You get popular, I get what I want. It's a win-win and you get the person you like to kiss you in the end. Sounds good, right?” Jinwoo asked.

“I guess,” Yuto sighed. “When do we start.”

“I thought you'd never ask,” Jinwoo replied. “We’ll start tomorrow. You know about football? Not the American one of course.”

“I prefer baseball, but I play football every now and then.” Yuto said.

“Perfect, you're one of those athletic dudes. Everyone loves those guys. Get your cleats ready for a private football practice after school.” Jinwoo demanded.

“What are you doing after school today?” Read a text from x emoji. Jinwoo rolled his eyes, he was on the fields waiting for Yuto to get changed into his sports clothes.

“Hanging out with my boyfriend.” Jinwoo texted back.

Almost immediately Dongmin replied with. “So, you're taking me up on the offer?”

Jinwoo felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth put he immediately pulled it down into a frown. “I'm with a guy friend, we're hanging out.”

“Where are you guys? I wanna hang out too.” Was Dongmin’s reply.

“Mind your business.” Was Jinwoo’s last reply because Yuto had just tapped Jinwoo’s shoulder. “Glad you're all changed up.” Jinwoo told.

“Thanks.” Yuto replied, flatly.

“I stole this from Yuta’s coach,” Jinwoo picked up the binder that was at his feet. “It’s all of his practice drills.”

“You stole that big thing?” Yuto asked, not a hint of surprise was in his voice.

“Well, I didn't steal it. My accomplices stole it but I came up with the scheme for it’s stealing so I’m taking all the credit for it.” Jinwoo explained.

“Why do we need his practice drills?” Yuto asked.

“You're going to challenge him and beat him. He's never been beaten before by the way.” Jinwoo added.

“How will I beat him then?” Yuto asked.

“I'll take care of that don't you worry,” Jinwoo assured. “You just need to look like you're as good as him, there'll be some… strings being pulled to ensure that the match goes in your favor. I'll also be the one setting up the match for you.

“I'm starting to get an evil mastermind vibe from you.” Yuto said.

“Really?” Jinwoo asked, hand over his heart. “That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.” Yuto scratched his head.

“We’ll have time for mystery solving later. For now,” Jinwoo blew his whistle. “Five laps! Go! Go! Go!”

For the rest of the week, Jinwoo and Yuto spent their time after school to do practice drills. Meanwhile, Dongmin was becoming increasingly more irritating about Jinwoo’s whereabouts. Every time Jinwoo told him to shut up and mind his own business, Dongmin would blow up his phone with obnoxious text messages about being how jealous he was of the guy he was hanging out with. Jinwoo couldn't say he didn't enjoy watching him suffer but Jinwoo knew that was just his own way of saying he liked the attention. On Monday, Dongmin finally snapped and visited Jinwoo in his one-man council room.

“I'm coming with you after school today.” Dongmin stated.

“No.” Jinwoo replied.

“Why are you being so difficult,” Dongmin whined and crouched to the ground so he lay his head on the table. “We need to hang out more so when we become official boyfriends we aren't awkward.”

“What do you mean when? Are you implying that I'll lose?” Jinwoo began to raise his voice.

“I'm implying that even if you win you'll fall for me.” Dongmin winked.

“Did Minhyuk tell you to say that?” Jinwoo asked, unimpressed.

“He might've…” Dongmin smiled.

“Do you really want to come that bad?” Jinwoo asked.

Dongmin nodded his head like a toddler would do. “Yes.”

“Fine,” Jinwoo sighed. “Come to football field after school, I’ll already be there.”

“You guys play football?” Dongmin asked. “Will I get to see you in a short pair of gym shorts?” 

Jinwoo gave Dongmin a look that was crossed between “What the fuck?” and dumbfounded. “No.”

“Yoga pants?”

“I'm going to get lunch.” Jinwoo said abruptly and brushed passed a laughing Dongmin.

As Jinwoo had told Dongmin earlier, he was already on the field with Yuto shouting orders at him. Even though he had already been told no, Dongmin was upset Jinwoo wasn't wearing anything that showed any skin.

“Aren't you hot in that tracksuit?” Dongmin asked, coming up to Jinwoo.

“No.” Jinwoo replied, eyes glued to Yuto who was dribbling the ball in between cones.

“If you wore some shorter clothes-” Dongmin began.

“If I wore girl’s track shorts and a thin white tshirt would you shut up?” Jinwoo snapped.

“Yes, definitely.” Dongmin nodded.

“Bring them next time and I’ll wear them.” Jinwoo replied.

“You'll what?” Dongmin asked, surprised.

“I was joking.” Jinwoo sighed. 

Dongmin’s excitement for tomorrow’s practice wilted away but he was glad that Jinwoo had attempted to joke with him. “What are you guys doing out here anyway? He seems to know what to do even without your instruction.”

“You know how you said when we text that we would keep the campaigning talk out of it?” Jinwoo asked. “Let's apply to whenever we meet up and your entourage isn't around.” 

“Ah. so it's one of those plans of yours. Okay, I get it,” Dongmin nodded. “Since we’re gonna date by the end of next month, we should get to know basic facts about each other.” Dongmin said.

“Like what?” Jinwoo asked.

“So you're agreeing to be my boyfriend?” Dongmin teased.

“Like what?” Jinwoo repeated through gritted teeth.

“Where were you born?” Dongmin began

“Ilsan, you?”

“Sabon district, so basically Seoul if you do the math.” Dongmin said.

“That's still not Seoul…” Jinwoo replied.

“Favorite color?” Dongmin asked, changing the subject.

“Green.”

“Blue.”

“Play any instruments?” 

“This is so boring,” Jinwoo groaned. “Is this what they do on speed dates?”

“Well, I play the guitar, violin, and piano.” Dongmin continued.

“Of course you do,” Jinwoo scoffed. “You didn't even have to tell me that I could tell just by looking at you.”

“Favorite-”

“I'm gonna stop you there,” Jinwoo cut off. “This boring the shit out of me. Don't we learn that stuff as we go? It's kind of awkward just sitting and talking about it.”

“Then what do you want to talk about?” Dongmin asked.

“You don't just ask someone what they want to talk about, that just makes it more awkward.” Jinwoo replied.

“Sorry, only got the hang of having conversations recently.” Dongmin said.

“Did you really want to become president to build confidence? Or was that just a lie for the camera.” Jinwoo asked.

“I thought you said no talk about stuff related to the campaigns.” Dongmin pointed out.

Jinwoo sighed. “It's a special occasion.”

“At first, yea, the pretty boy images was weighing me down. Everyone thought because I was perfect I should do perfect or something, it put a lot of pressure on me and took a toll on my confidence when I realized I couldn't live up to everyone's expectations. The past few months, with all the speeches and interactions among students, have really help me bring my confidence back up and I have a new image now. I don't think anyone sees as the pretty boy anymore, you know? They see me as Dongmin, the average guy with a nice smile and who can sometimes be a little stupid but his looks make up for it,” Dongmin continued his monologue. “I  
About two months a go, I realized I wasn’t doing this to build character anymore. Yea, I wanna win and help the school become a better place but I think my first priority is getting close with you. I've always admired you. People feared you but I respected you. You do all that stuff with a rock hard mindset but there’s a lot of passion behind it. It isn't some sociopathic desire for power or anything. I wished I had your confidence when I first enrolled here and just watching you give orders from the sidelines made me develop a crush I think. Now I’m here, telling you all this. I think that's an accomplishment, right?” 

Jinwoo was at a loss for words. He really didn't know what to say. Dongmin had just answered Jinwoo’s question and tied it in with a confession. Dongmin made it obvious that he liked to tease him, Jinwoo thought he was joking about the whole boyfriend thing. Now that he knows Dongmin was serious he had no idea what to say. And that's exactly what he said.

“You don't have to say anything,” Dongmin replied. “Spilling my heart out like that, I think that's the first step to winning yours.”

That line was incredibly corny but Jinwoo could feel his face beat up and he hoped that the orange sunlight from the setting sun would mask it with its orange radiance. 

“Jinwoo!” Yuto jogged over to the duo. “I gotta leave early for today. Something came up.”

Jinwoo was relieved that something broke the silence before it got awkward. “Alright, no practice for three days. You've worked hard so go do whatever you usually do behind that dumpster.”

Yuto nodded in response and jogged off to the locker room.

“He's pretty obedient.” Dongmin commented.

“He wants someone just as bad as I want presidency. I promised him that he would get the person. I guess he really likes them.” Jinwoo replied.

“Reminds me of me and you,” Dongmin added. “I'll walk you home.”

“You don't even know where I live.” Jinwoo rolled his eyes.

Dongmin put his arms around Jinwoo’s shoulders “I'm about to find out.” 

The passed three days had Jinwoo’s schedule booked with texting Dongmin; He found himself enjoying his company more and more but he would never admit that even if his life depended on it. It was a Friday now and Jinwoo still had to tell Yuta that he’d be challenging Yuto whether he wanted to or not. Just like the cowboys did, Jinwoo would publicly suggest the challenge so that Yuta would be pressured into doing it. Football players always seemed to be around other people but the perfect time to force someone into an unfair football match would be in the cafeteria. Making his way to the place where the most drama had happened all semester, Jinwoo was ready for his plans to come to life for the fourth time.

The cafeteria was just as crowded as it usually is. People were pushing a shoving to get in line or get to their table. Jinwoo was instantly reminded why he preferred to eat in a classroom each time he came here. Pushing and shunting his way through the crowd, Jinwoo made his way to where the sports people sat down and talked about whatever it was. Unsurprisingly, Dongmin was there obviously trying to get people to get on his side. Yuta was seated with his football friends and two of Dongmin’s accomplices. One of them, Jinwoo thinks his name is Doyoung, turned to Dongmin to warn him about Jinwoo’s presence but Dongmin brushed him off.

“Yuta Nakamoto,” Jinwoo began. “Captain of the football team, everyone's favorite foreign exchange student, and resident show off.” The whole cafeteria was silent now and all attention was directed towards the table Jinwoo was standing by.

“Yea, what’s it to you?” Yuta asked, chewing on his chicken.

“I have a proposition from an aspiring football player. Yuto Adachi. He says he's just as good at football. He's proposed a challenge of sorts. A one on one match, a week from now. Seeing as how I've been so generous to fund renovations for the football field, I suggest we put it to use.” Jinwoo continued.

“What if I don't accept?” Yuta asked.

“Ask your voters.” Jinwoo said, quieter than his last responses.

Yuta nodded, working out what Jinwoo meant in his head. “Okay, I’ll do it. Next week right?”

“That would be correct, he’ll see you on the soccer field then.” Jinwoo smiled and made his way out of the cafeteria, not knowing Dongmin trailing behind him.

“So that's what you're up to,” Dongmin finally spoke when they were in the hallway. “I've gotta give it to you, you're dedicated.”

“No talk about campaigning when we’re alone,” Jinwoo reminded him as they walked down the hallway, not surprised that he followed him. “You should probably go somewhere else. Cathy will slit your throat if she finds out you aren't doing anything about me while always hovering around me.”

“She’ll be fine,” Dongmin assured. “She's been breaking her back trying to gather up evidence that you were behind Yein’s downfall but all the footage was mysteriously deleted. She has her hands tied so I’m sure she won't notice.”

“She’ll find something. She's more determined than me.” Jinwoo replied.

“Do you have to train with Yuto after school today?” Dongmin asked.

“Yep.” Jinwoo nodded.

“Can't wait for our second date.” Dongmin replied with a smile.

That Friday and the rest of Jinwoo’s week were spent training Yuto who was quiet and cooperative as he was the first week they decided to train. Dongmin tagged along for each practice session which made the whole thing much more bearable. Almost everything was in place for Jinwoo’s plan. He just needed to issue out a few orders to his lackeys so that they could ensure that the game would end with Yuto winning. On the day of the game, Jinwoo met up with Bin and Myungjun.

Jinwoo held out the ear pieces and the two backpacks. “Put the earpieces in and connect them to your phone or whatever,” Jinwoo explained. “Bin you're sitting in the front row, Myungjun you'll be at the top. Each time I call you it'll be to give you a mini mission, I guess. Everything in these backpacks are needed to complete the mini missions, got it?” Jinwoo asked. Bin and Myungjun nodded in response. “Good. I'll be in the middle of the bleachers giving out the orders or whatever.” Jinwoo left on that note, putting his earpiece inside the designated area.

Making his way to the middle of the stands, Jinwoo unconsciously wondered where Dongmin was. Not that he wanted to hang out with him or anything. Dongmin knew he was scheming and Jinwoo wanted to keep an eye out for him, that's what Jinwoo told him. Sighing, Jinwoo started into space as the bleachers around him started to fill up with students. Jinwoo couldn't tell how full the bleachers were, he didn't care either way. The president was surprised about how many people had showed up though. Snapping out of his trance for a bit, Jinwoo noticed that the visitors side of the bleachers were completely filled. He was going to check either of his sides to see if the home bleachers were as packed but Dongmin’s face got in the way. Jinwoo gasped out loud and jumped back a bit, hand on his heart. 

“Your lips almost touched mine.” Dongmin commented. 

“Why are you here? Where's your management team?” Jinwoo asked.

“You know, away, doing whatever,” Dongmin replied. “Oh, you're wearing shorts! This is a first. Your thighs look nice.”

“I'll remind myself to never wear shorts in the late spring part of the school semester because of this.” Jinwoo commented, turning to the field.

“It was just a compliment.” Dongmin teased.

“The game is about to start.” Jinwoo responded as stale as possible.

Dongmin took Jinwoo’s hint for once which actually surprised him. There was no snarky follow-up comment or anything. Just silence. Shrugging in his thoughts, Jinwoo turned his attention to the field. The announcers introduce Yuto and Yuta, Yuto entering from the right side of the field and Yuta entering from the left. There were no cheers for Yuto, at all. Jinwoo expected that to happen. When the announcer introduced Yuta the crowd went wild, screams and cheers and vulgarities shouted by the straight women in the crowd. Jinwoo let a smile slip across his face. It would be fun to see the slow loss of morale within in the crowd once Yuta started to lose to unfortunate circumstances. The two met at the center of the field like they usually would and once the referee blew the whistle, the game was off to an intense start. Everyone was surprised that Yuto was able to hold his ground. He stole the ball from Yuta as much as Yuto stole the ball from him, their speeds were even, they both knew how to work the hall down the field. E verything Yuta did Yuto could do just as well.

No one had made a goal yet so this meant it was Jinwoo’s time to shine. Taking out his phone Jinwoo phoned Bin. “Bin, okay, about the backpack. If you open it and dig in there, there should be a-” Jinwoo felt a hand clasp the earpiece and pull it out. “What the fuck!” Jinwoo turned to Dongmin. “Give it back now.” He said through his clenched teeth as he reached for the earpiece that was now high in the air. 

“Sorry, can't let you do whatever you're about to do.” Dongmin smiled.

“God, you're so annoying! If you wanted to stop me you would've done it earlier!” Jinwoo was still reading for the earpiece even though he knew his efforts would be fruitless due to the height difference.

“I thought about how you said Cathy would kill me for do nothing so I'm doing something right now. You've trained Yuto hard so I'm sure he can win this without you interfering.” Dongmin said, smile still on his face.

“Everything you say is so fucking embarrassing, oh my god,” Jinwoo groaned in annoyance; he wasn’t sure if he was annoyed by the current circumstances or the fact that he was slightly close to almost happy that Dongmin had said that to him. “I’ll just go issue out orders manually then.” Jinwoo got up and was ready to leave the bleachers.

“I can't let you do that either!” Dongmin reached for Jinwoo’s arm and pulled him back down to his seat. “You're staying here with me the whole game. So, get comfy. It'll be a third date for us.”

“You're lucky the crowd is cheering too loud for anyone to hear our conversation.” Jinwoo complained.

“Don't be rude,” Dongmin whined and wrapped his arms around Jinwoo’s waist. “We’ll be dating by the end of the school year so if you don't get used to PDA now you never will.”

“Do you like to annoy me? Is that you're job?” Jinwoo asked.

“Yes.” Dongmin smiled.

Jinwoo responded with an unpleasant grunt and turned his eyes towards the game again. Whilst arguing, Yuta had made a goal. The crowd was still going wild, screaming and shouting at Yuta telling him that he was the greatest and all that. Yuta then got too cocky which allowed Yuto to make an easy goal, no one cheered but Jinwoo was sure Yuto expected that. That's how it went for most of the game. It was back and forth. Yuta would get a point, everyone would cheer, Yuto would score a point after and everyone became silent. After about half an hour the cheers started to pick up for Yuta. The game was tied 3-3 and honestly Jinwoo could only last 15 more minutes of watching people run up and down a field. Out of boredom, Jinwoo leaned his head to the side which caused him to hit Dongmin’s shoulder. The president was going to immediately take it off but he also wanted to see how Dongmin would react. To his annoyance, he didn't react and calmly accepted Jinwoo’s friendly gesture. Irritated at the lack of response, Jinwoo sat up straight. 

There were about 10 minutes left on the clock now and the score was still tied 3-3. Yuta still got louder cheers than Yuto and Yuto looked exhausted. Tired of sitting around, Jinwoo sat up and began to cheer for Yuto. Dongmin was surprised that Jinwoo began to shout words of encouragement for Yuto. Everyone else around them were surprised as well. Dongmin doesn't know why, maybe it was the mob mentality or maybe it was because people wanted more money thrown at their clubs and they thought this would be a way to rt on his good side, but everyone else in their stand started cheering for Yuto. Soon, their whole section was having a party screaming and chanting for Yuto at the last few minutes of the game. The excitement spread through the crowd and more and more people began to chant for Yuto. Then, a battle began. People were screaming Yuto’s name and the fans of Yuta tried to retaliate with screams even louder. Everyone seemed to be enjoying shouting over each other more than the soccer game and with all the adrenaline rushing through everyone the intensity rose to a crescendo and soon the sound of everyone in the bleachers could rival a thunderstorm.

While everyone was busy screaming and shouting for Yuto or Yuta, Dongmin was watching Jinwoo cheer on his accomplice. This was the first time he had seen Jinwoo genuinely have fun. It was also one of the first times Dongmin had seen Jinwoo smile and enjoy himself. This is the Jinwoo that Dongmin wanted to get to know. Unsurprisingly, Yuto scored the winning goal. Everyone burst into applause and students began to jump over the fence to get to Yuto. Dongmin was once again impressed that one of Jinwoo’s scheme went off without a hitch.

The very next day, Jinwoo was in the cafeteria with Yuto doing what he called a PR stunt. Everyone seemed to enjoy the cool and mysterious aura Yuto had around him so that coupled with his win instantly skyrocketed him to fame. Jinwoo thinks it was safe to say he surpassed Yuta.

“Who was your biggest motivator for this competition?” Mimi asked, holding a mic to Yuto’s face.

Yuto scratched his neck. “Jinwoo was a big factor. I think you should all vote for him he's a great leader.”

The interview with Yuto went on and Jinwoo tuned it out. The election was closing in and he was thinking of ways to start off his speech.

✲

This was it. The day of the election. All the hard work Jinwoo had done in the first half of the second semester all amounted to this. He had his best suit ironed out and put on his best cologne. Looking in the school bathroom’s mirror, Jinwoo couldn't help but admire himself. With one last brush of his clothes, Jinwoo made his way into the hallway. Usually, schools had their proms in a fancy place that was rented out, but because this was also an election they decided to use the gym. Making his way to the gym, Jinwoo enjoyed the night air, he hadn't been able to relax and stop being paranoid for awhile. Nothing could stop him now. He had already come so far. 

Strolling through the campus, Jinwoo didn't expect to be interrupted by anything. Of course, this was asking a little too much. “Hey, handsome,” Dongmin greeted with a smile. Dongmin was also in a suit and Jinwoo pretended he looked bad in it. “Oh, your chest looks like nice in that.” Dongmin commented with a path.

“Stop touching,” Jinwoo snapped. “I thought you’d already be in there schmoozing or whatever it is that you do.”

“I don't schmooze. It seems you have the wrong impression of me,” Dongmin pretended to sound hurt. “I like the open night air as much as anyone else would.”

“You know, I would take the quiet pretty boy you used to be over the confidence thing you have going on.” Jinwoo replied.

“Do you have a date?” Dongrin asked, changing the subject.

“No, it's an election.” Jinwoo said.

“I’ll be your date.” Dongmin said, flashing the dazzling smile that Jinwoo had become accustomed to seeing.

“I don't need a date-”

“Oh, come on,” Dongmin forced Jinwoo to link arms with him. “We’ll be boyfriends by the end of the night so we might as well start acting like it.”

Jinwoo let out an audible groan but didn't complain verbally after that. It was kind of nice to have someone as good looking as Dongmin have that much interest in him so he decided to start cutting back the complaints.

When they reached the gym, the ticket holder knew who they were and let them through. He eyed their linking of arms but Jinwoo pretended he didn't see.

“After the results,” Dongmin began. “We should dance together.”

“It's nice that you still want to date me even though you know you'll lose.” Jinwoo replied.

“So you're saying you find me endearing?” Dongmin teased.

“I might be.” Jinwoo teased back. 

Dongmin didn't know what to say. This was the first time Jinwoo didn't bite his hand off for making an advance. So he just let out a chuckle and changed the subject. “When does the election start?” Dongmin asked.

“Right when we get on stage,” Jinwoo replied. “The sooner the better.” 

“That's a weird schedule.” Dongmin commented.

“Your participation enforced it.” Jinwoo said back.

Without wasting anytime, Jinwoo dragged Dongmin to the stage so they could get the election over with. Everyone that was coming to prom had to put a vote in the ballot and the prom had already been running for an hour so Jinwoo thinks this was a better time than any to announce his next term as president. Making their way on stage, they wanted for the announcer to notice their presence. Once he did take notice, he cleared his throat and spoke into his microphone.

“Attention, attention everyone,” The old man spoke. “We’ll now here our speeches from each presidential-”

“Is there a need for speeches?” Jinwoo asked impatiently. “In all the debates and speeches and interviews and stuff we had before we've already been over why we wanted to become the president. I think we should get on with it to put it bluntly.”

The old man cleared his throat another time. “Okay, well, I have the results right here!” He reached into his coat pocket. “Say hello to our new president-”

“Objection!” A voice shouted.

“You can't object to an election.” Jinwoo said, the impatience become more obvious.

“But I can!” The voice entered the stage. “Hello, Jinwoo.”

“Choa?” Jinwoo asked. “What are you doing here? Don't you have people to counsel?”

“I might,” Choa said. “They're all in front of me. Hit the button!” She shouted without any indication to which direction she was shouting in. A screen rolled down from the ceiling of the stage. “Did anyone ever find it odd that Jinwoo was suddenly gaining favor as each president dropp-”

“Choa, on god, I will gun you down if you continue-”

“Dropped out of the race? Because I didn't! Do you want to know why-”

“No,” Jinwoo cut off again. “They don’t.”

“In January, Jinwoo sought my help. He was losing the grip he had on the power he had over you all and-”

“Excuse me!” Jinwoo shouted. “Security! Yes, there's the crazy old woman shouting nonsense on stage. Can you come and get her?”

“As I was saying!” Choa continued. “He sought my help. Now, at first he sought my guidance for his evil plans and I helped. He thought I was going to give him lessons in espionage but what I was really doing was recording everything he's done to reveal to you to teach him a lesson in compassion and emotion! Isn't it brilliant? Now, Jinwoo here will learn- Hey, Hey! Get off me!” Choa shouted as security grabbed her by the arms and prepared to drag her out.

“Yea, just toss her to the road or whatever.” Jinwoo said.

“Jinwoo sabotaged all the other candidates to gain your votes! I have proof! Proof!” As Choa struggled she reached for a button she had tucked in her bra. She grasped it and pressed it as hard as she could and video began to play. It was obvious it was surveillance footage. Every conversation Jinwoo and Choa had ever had was broadcasted to the entire student body in front. Choa had been escorted off stage at that point already but the deed had been done. Everyone knew of Jinwoo’s secret and the fact that he called most of them sheep and made remarks about their lack of intelligence.

“Okay, whatever!” Jinwoo said. “It doesn't even matter anymore! I did what I did so let's just count the votes okay?”

“I think we should-” The announcer began.

“Just count the fucking votes!” Jinwoo shouted as Dongmin watched in amusement.

“Well,” The announced scratched his head. “The winner is Lee Dongmin with a total of 12,263 votes to 12,261.” The announcer stated awkwardly.

“You're kidding right?” Jinwoo asked. “You're joking right?”

“No…” The announcer replied.

Jinwoo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “You know what, I'm not sorry. Choa wanted me to learn a lesson and that was the ‘problem solving’’ she was giving me but I haven't learned my lesson. If you think I'm the only bad guy here you guys are wrong! Yea, I did all those things to gain advantages but they wouldn't have worked if you guys had opened your eyes! Cathy complied concrete evidence and you guys still didn't believe her. And you wanna know why you didn't believe her? Because all of you are just as greedy as me. You wanted funding thrown your way and you knew you'd get it if you kissed my ass and promised me your vote! So, Lee Dongmin may have won this round but did he really win? Because I feel like a winner either way. I got you all to believe schemes that would've been disproven if you just looked at the evidence for more than a damn second. But, I digress,” Jinwoo finished. “Thanks everybody I had fun, think about what I said while you're laying in bed tonight.” Jinwoo wished he had a microphone to drop but the best he could do was storm off stage out of the gymnasium.

The cool night air hit him once again and he found himself at peace. He let his head lean back as he walked forward, it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulder. Sighing, Jinwoo looked up at the stars. Even though he gave that dramatic speech about greed and whatever he still felt like crying. So he let some tears slip. Jinwoo didn't know why he was crying, maybe it was because all the hard work he had done had gone to waste or maybe it was because being exposed like that was pretty embarrassing. Either way, he was letting salty tears run down his cheeks.

“You okay?” That oh so familiar voice asked.

“Yes.” Jinwoo lied.

“You still owe me a dance you know.” Dongmin said.

“There's no music.” Jinwoo replied.

“Just play it in your head.” Dongmin said as he turned Jinwoo around and took a hold his hand and lower back. . 

“Go back inside.” Jinwoo said, frowning.

“Were you crying?” Dongmin asked.

“And if I was?” Jinwoo asked back.

Dongmin let go of Jinwoo’s back and wiped his tears with his thumb. “I’d do that.”

“You're so embarrassing it's gross.” Jinwoo stated.

Dongmin took hold of Jinwoo’s hand a began moving. “You love it don't you?”

“I hate it.” Jinwoo replied.

“Can I address you as boyfriend or just my boyfriend now?” Dongmin asked.

“Would you listen if I said no?” Jinwoo raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Dongmin smiled. “Boyfriend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for holding it off so long but i hope u enjoyed this chapter


	3. To Know Your Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had this finished with chapter 2 i just needed to find time to post it hehe (not proofread as usual bc im lazy as SHIT)

"So, that's why I think we should all get along well," Dongmin said, concluding his presentation. "I want my friends to get along with my boyfriend."

"Did you really need a presentation for all of this?" Cathy asked, gesticulating to the PowerPoint in front of her. "I don't think all of that was needed."

"I didn't even know you guys had a thing for each other," Mijoo commented, looking in a mirror. "Was there stuff going on behind the scenes that we weren't aware of?"

"You all remember the whole fantastic quiz show thing right?" Bin asked. Yes, Jinwoo's lackeys were included in the merging of two kingdoms via the gays.

"I'm still wondering how the security footage for that day was mysteriously deleted?" Cathy eyed Jinwoo.

"You know, I feel like we're not going to get anywhere if you don't put in as much effort into this as you put into trying to make sure I failed." Jinwoo shot back.

"Anyway!" Bin made sure to cut their quarrel short. "The general consensus is that we do remember that day, correct?" The audience inside the room nodded. "Jinwoo and Dongmin made out that day. Before anyone objects, Myungjun is my witness to that event."

"We didn't actually see anything," Myungjun reminded Bin. "But, we did see Jinwoo with his hair going every which way and puffy lips."

"Now that I'm thinking about it," Mijoo said, thoughtfully. "I do remember Dongmin having a tent and having lips that had the life kissed out of him."

"I had a tent and you didn't tell me?" Dongmin asked Jinwoo.

"I thought implying that I would suck you off one day was enough indication of that," Jinwoo shrugged. "I guess you aren't as smart as you let on, Mr. President."

"Disregarding what he just said," Dongmin continued. "I think it's great that we're all getting along."

"I don't think you should lump me into a statement so casually like that," Cathy said.

"Okay," Dongmin clapped his hands together. "Does anyone else still have a problem with Jinwoo? We all get that he was super passionate about carrying the gigantic, torch attached to his position leading him to become a tyrant which inevitably led to his downfall?" The group of council members all nodded and mumbled agreements. With the exception of Cathy of course. "Okay, good! Now, Cathy, I want you a Jinwoo to try and compliment each other. Seeing as everyone is understanding of Jinwoo's feelings. Jinwoo, you can start."

Jinwoo shifted his eyes to the upper left corner and thought for a bit. "There's something to like under all that and I want to find it." 

"I'll take it," Dongmin beamed at his boyfriend. The word boyfriend directed at Jinwoo seemed foreign to him but he embraced the change. "Cathy?" 

"The way you somehow have Dongmin wrapped around your pinky finger is…" The former campaigners searched for the word. "Admirable."

"What can I say," Jinwoo shrugged. "You put your tongue down his throat and offer to blow him then he's all over you."

"Good start," Dongmin sighed quietly. "A decent start."

"This is kind of like my redemption arc though, right?" Jinwoo asked. "I think this is the perfect chance to discuss image repair."

"You lured two people from different social groups together to tarnish their reputation so jocks and the band hates you, you intentionally used the school's fine arts and media to sabotage my reputation, you made some underclassman girl feel stupid in front of a whole audience of people, and ruined someone's popularity status," Seolhyun said, arms folded. "Granted, that last one isn't that bad but you still did it so there's that."

"Well, when you put it that way," Jinwoo shook his head left to right with every word. "You make me seem like a complete criminal."

"I'd prefer a criminal over you," Cathy mumbled.

"It's not like that stuff didn't come with positives," Jinwoo pointed out. "Changgu got a boyfriend, you realized that you weren't good with media and stuff, Yein learned not to be a liar, and Yuta is… still alive. And the guy I helped get popular, Yuto, got himself some confidence. I'd like to think of myself as a philanthropist."

"Thinking and being are two separate things." Cathy snapped.

"And I'm about to make them whole. Right Dongmin?" Jinwoo asked, batting his eyelashes.

"Well, you have about two months to do it," Cathy replied. "Summer is just around the corner so you might as well start now. A lot of people hate you for being a liar."

"Tons of people hated me even when I wasn't a liar. This is nothing new or challenging. I just have to play my cards right. And I'm sure this guy over here," Jinwoo pointed to Dongmin. "Would be more than happy to lend a helping hand. Also, Bin and Myungjun are still under my immediate control due to leverage. Minhyuk is mine again too. I think I might as well take Sanha for keeps as well."

"So you're just going to take the staff to your liking?" Cathy asked.

"Mijoo, Seolhyun, my beautiful, newfound, sisters," Jinwoo went on. "I think I'll need your looks for this too."

Mijoo and Seolhyun didn't object. Mijoo had a lot of free time because she doesn't do anything outside of the council membership. After being kicked out of her club, Seolhyun had a lot of time to do extracurricular activities. You could hardly count Jinwoo's plan for redemption an extracurricular activity but with the amount of plotting it was going to take it might as well be added to an academic. 

"Perfect," Jinwoo clapped his hands together. "Changgu and Hyojong- E'dawn are probably doing something homosexual somewhere so I won't include them. Cathy? Will you join my brigade?" 

"I guess," Cathy sighed. "I'll let you have this chance to prove yourself to me."

Jinwoo got up from his seat and snatched the PowerPoint remote from Dongmin. "Great! So, what I was thinking was this," Jinwoo clicked his button. "Apologies. Apologies are a great way to get people to forgive you even if you don't mean it. Public apologies to be specific," Jinwoo clicked the button again. "Now, we're gonna go in chronological order for this one. We're starting off with the school's, now, second favorite gay couple. Changgu and Hyojong. Now, I'm not issuing an apology to them because they seem to be relatively happy. I will be issuing apologies to both of their departments though." 

"Why give apologies to their departments and not the two that were affected?" Mijoo asked. "That seems stupid."

"Okay, well, obviously you weren't listening long enough to phone a friend for the second part of the question. For your first part, I've noticed there's been a rift between the jocks and the band," Jinwoo pointed to Bin. "He can attest to this."

"Ever since Changgu and E'Dawn got together, we lost members of our teams. The jocks are pinning it on the band and vice versa. It's world war." Bin responded.

"There's your answer," Jinwoo gave a nod to Mijoo. "So, how do we sew this rift?" Jinwoo asked an unresponsive audience. "We get each respective head to date each other or at least bang. In my opinion, insertion-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Dongmin cut in. "You guys get what he means."

"If the exact opposite happened with Changgu and Hyojong why would this work at all?" Cathy asked.

"Let me put it this way," Jinwoo began. "The marriage between two presents of opposing factions is insignificant and brings conflict. The marriage between the queen and the king brings together a nation." 

"Okay, I'll give you that one." Cathy scoffed.

"So, who are the respective heads of each of those social groups?" Jinwoo asked again. "Seo Youngho or more commonly known as Johnny," Jinwoo clicked the remote. "He's tall as shit and good at sports and kind of good looking? I'm not too sure about the good looking part, but if he's tall we can PEMDAS ugly out. I've collected lots of information on him yesterday through sketchy means but we're not going into detail on that."

"And who's the head of the band," Cathy asked.

"That is a very great question. He's here right now," Jinwoo pointed to Bin. "There's no definite head in the band because it's not really a team. There's also no hierarchy, but Bin is definitely the most known which automatically makes him the ‘head' of the band," Jinwoo clicked his remote once. "You all know him, his mannerism, and his likes. So, here are some pretty pictures and stuff of our little Bin."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Bin said, with his reluctance obvious in his voice.

"You're right it's a great idea. You'll do this for me right?" JInwoo batted his eyelashes again. 

"What do I get out of this?" Bin asked.

"I think he's rich?" Jinwoo went back a few slides. "Does that satisfy you?" 

"Whatever," Bin sighed. "We haven't had fun in a month so I'm in. You're taking the humiliation if this fails though."

♔

"Go!" Jinwoo whispered yelled. Bin and Jinwoo were crouched under the water fountain. 

"I can't just ‘go'!" Bin whispered yelled back. "You've been on top of the social chain for too long and you're forgetting how things work around here. I can't just go up to an athlete and say ‘hey'. It doesn't work like that!"

"Oh, boo boo, it's high school!" Jinwoo pointed out. "You were for the plan yesterday when we all discussed it!"

"That was yesterday!" Bin said through gritted teeth. "I didn't realize you meant that we would take action a day after."

"I didn't rest a single day trying to bring people out of the race did I? You should've expected just as much from a scheme like this," Jinwoo smacked the wall in annoyance. "Just go say hi. Purpose an alliance. Seduce him."

"I'm not gonna seduce him," Bin stated.

"There's no shame in getting on your knees for things," Jinwoo replied.

Bin almost choked on air. "I wish you would use your knees for prayer!"

"Dongmin likes my knees," Jinwoo added.

"I'm going! I'm going!" Bin got up from his position beside the water fountain and made his way over to the field. 

Following the stereotype, the athletes loitered around the field during lunch. Not a specific field either, it was all the fields. Jinwoo kept up with their congregation schedule though. Mondays it was the non-American, football field; on Tuesdays and Wednesdays it was the baseball field; on Thursdays, the teams liked to switch it up and eat in a hospitable area like the cafeteria; and on Fridays, they all gathered in the gym. In the movable kingdom stood different groups of people. On the outer ring was the benchwarmers of course, in the inner ring was were the actual athletes and in the center of it were the starter players. The shape of the group wasn't a circle, but more an elliptical pack. Bin had no idea how to penetrate it.

"Excuse me," Bin yelled over the chatter. Unfortunately, there was no response. "Johnny?" The crowd went silent. "Yea, if you guys could part a little bit. I need to speak with him really quickly."

"Who called my name?' Johnny parted the sea of people like the Moses of the basketball team. His height made him kind of intimidating but the way his frame was built made him look a little wonky. He looked like he couldn't walk on his own feet and his face looked like a parody of itself.

"That would be me," Bin raised his hand. "I'm from the band and-" Bin doesn't know how but Johnny comically tripped. The field was flat and it's not like there was a rock in the grass since they check for that. Johnny's leg somehow buckled, probably under the pressure of his height, and he leaned sideways trying to catch himself but to no avail. "Are you okay?" Bin asked, crouching down and extending a hand. "You should probably be more careful when trying to look menacing."

"Uh, thanks, I guess?' Johnny took his hand. "I just uh- mimicked how Jongdae fell over during practice yesterday," He coughed. "Yea."

"Uh, huh," Bin nodded. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to eat lunch with me tomorrow since it'll be Thursday."

"I think my schedule won't have time to squeeze a band member-"

"Then, no?" Bin asked. "Okay, bye." Bin waved a turned on his heels.

"Wait!" Johnny called. "You didn't let me finish," he laughed nervously. "I was about to say I'd make an exception for you."

"Okay," Bin agreed. "Thursday, cafeteria, don't forget, okay?"

After Bin was done setting up his date, he jogged back to Jinwoo who was still crouched behind the fountain. Bending down, Bin picked up Jinwoo from his position. "I set it up."

"Did you see Johnny literally fall for you? As soon as you made eye contact and helped him up he was in love," Jinwoo sighed longingly. "I'm such a genius. I knew you guys had chemistry, I knew it. Like, my mind, it's just-"

"I get it," Bin said, "This better work or I'll look dumb for nothing."

Apparently, news of the upcoming "event" spread rather quickly. All thanks to Jinwoo. He made sure to use his spies, Myungjun and Sanha, to distribute the information accordingly. Myungjun made sure to tell Mimi to post the rumor on her twitter and Sanha made sure to tell all the underclassmen about the "event" and give them insight as to why it was so important. 

"I think I aided a revolution," Jinwoo told Minhyuk over his food. "Does this make me Napoleon?"

"Do you plan on being exiled after your reign?" Minhyuk asked. "Wait for your reign already-"

"I'm going to let you off with a warning this time but the next time you get too comfortable," Jinwoo stabbed the fork into his table. "Anyway, we're here to watch Bin and his boyfriend negotiate so let's just observe for the time being."

 

Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at Bin and Johnny. It was kind of intense. It also didn't help the fact that Johnny had brought bodyguards. Bin didn't understand why maybe Johnny thought he'd bring some assassins to try and sabotage the athletic department. The atmosphere made it seem like a diplomatic meeting of two warring countries rather than an "event". Bin wasn't ready to be an ambassador. "So," He began. "I know we've been fighting more than usual recently. I also know it's due to a party that I associate it. But, as one of the most prominent members of the band, I'm here to mend the relationship between our people."

"He's being boring," Jinwoo groaned. "If this were me we'd been in an isolated area so we could fu-"

"Please, please, don't finish that sentence until I've finished my food," Minhyuk begged.

"Wait," Johnny stopped him. "This isn't a date?"

"Think of it as a discussion between nations," Bin replied.

"What if I wanted to think of it as a date?" Johnny asked.

Bin sighed. "You can interpret this however you like. I would just like to end the warring because we have a performance coming up and I want superior. Do we have a deal? Let's make a treaty. No threats, fighting, verbal firefights, all that stuff." 

"On what grounds?" Johnny leaned back in his seat.

"Those are the grounds," Bin was dumbstruck "What I stated are the grounds."

One of the bodyguards leaned over to whisper something in Johnny's ear. "I mean what do I get out of this."

"Peace? I don't know. You're not tired of the constant fighting that goes on?" Bin was whittled down to his last nerve.

"Date me," Johnny demanded, "I want a date in return for this." 

Bin rubbed his temples. "God, I hope you're joking."

"I'm serious. You're cute." Johnny tried to smirk but it came off as a crooked smile.

"And that's fantastic that you think that. It really is. I'm trying to end a conflict here though so I'm gonna need your vote on whether we're ending it or not." Bin was trying not to reach over the table and strangle the guy.

"You know my conditions," Johnny replied.

"Fine, fine, conditions met." Bin waved his hand dismissively. "Are you happy?" 

"Well, look like we've got a subplot on our hands," Jinwoo said.

 

♔

"Phase one," Jinwoo pressed the remote. "Complete. Bin and Johnny are dating and I think the band and athletes are getting treaties or something. So, we'll follow those developments closely but we have bigger and better things to do."

"Like what?" Cathy asked.

"Well, I don't think Seolhyun needs help. Everyone still loves her and whatever because she's Seolhyun. In fact, she can put in a good word for me!" Jinwoo stood on his toes to get a view of Seolhyun. "You'll do that for me right?"

"Yea, sure." Seolhyun shrugged.

"Okay, just ask Myungjun for access to the newspaper again and we'll be fine," Jinwoo pressed his remote once more. "Phase two. Jung Yein. Now, it's not my fault she's a liar, to be honest. But, that doesn't mean she deserves to be called an idiot and a stupid bitch. Most of those comments are from Mijoo but, still, my opinion stands."

"How are you going to make people like Yein again?" Cathy asked. "Also, how is any of this helping you?"

"First off all, I'm selfless. Thank you. And, second of all, if everyone is busy focusing on things like the band and athletes trying to get along or Yein apologizing then attention will be drawn from me," Jinwoo explained. "And then, I can crush Dongmin and take my rightful place as president again."

"Don't know about that last part." Dongmin commented.

"Anyway," Jinwoo continued. "So, I got Yein ostracized by making her fail a quiz show. What better way to get her un-ostracized than to hold another quiz show where she wins?"

"You're getting very uncreative," Cathy said.

"Listen, it's because I've hung out with Dongmin so much this past month. He is literally the most vanilla person I've ever met. He's starting to rub off on me." Jinwoo replied.

Cathy sighed. "Why do I feel like that last sentence was an innuendo."

"Who's the smartest in the school currently?" Jinwoo asked. "Excluding me."

"Uh, I heard Subin was pretty smart," Sanha said. "He's in our year. He's top of our class right now."

"Perfect." Jinwoo nodded his head.

"So you're going to get someone who's smarter than Yein to compete against her again?" Cathy was very confused.

"Does Subin care about his image?" Jinwoo asked, brushing Cathy off.

"Not really," Sanha shrugged. "And if someone does bug him about anything Chanmi usually beats them up."

"Chanmi is friends with Subin?" Jinwoo looked at Seolhyun. "Seolhyun, gonna need you to also text Chanmi and ask where she hangs out at lunch," Jinwoo turned to Cathy again. "If Yein went up against someone stupid and won, what would be the point?" Jinwoo didn't wait for a response. "Exactly. Now, I'm not gonna trick Subin or anything. Seeing that he doesn't care about his reputation, he will help us. We'll tell him to purposely get the questions wrong. We just have to feed her answers through a wire like how you guys attempted to do before."

"And nothing is going to go wrong, right?" Cathy asked.

"What could possibly go wrong?" Jinwoo asked. "Minhyuk, Sanha, go tell Mimi and Haebin to start posting advertisements for the new quiz show. Mijoo, tell Yein that we're giving her a second shot at a decent high school laugh. Seolhyun, you're coming with me."

"She said they hang out by the dance club's room because he wants to join one of these days but can't," Seolhyun said as the pair walked down the hallway.

"Isn't she a dancer too?" Jinwoo asked

"Yes, but she's lazy as shit. So," Seolhyun replied. "Chanmi!" Seolhyun called when she came into sight. "We need to discuss some things."

Chanmi quickly turned around as soon as she heard Seolhyun's voice "If this is about Suzy falling down the stairs I don't have anything to say about that." She called back, face full of guilt.

"I wasn't going to ask you about that. I didn't even know about that. We're definitely discussing that later though," Seolhyun said. "Is this your friend Subin?" Seolhyun gestured to the boy.

"Yes, why?" Chanmi asked. "No, he didn't have a part in that whole exploding chemistry lab thing. All the kid does is stand in the doorway of the dance club and watch Sejun. In my opinion, he's not that good."

"I really don't know why you keep bringing up unrelated events but we're also going to talk about that chemistry lab thing later. We need to borrow the guy for one of Jinwoo's scheme thingies. No, he's not going to be the one getting humiliated. No one is getting humiliated actually." Seolhyun reassured. 

"Take him, please. His obsession with Sejun is getting out of hand at this point." Chanmi begged.

"That was easy," Jinwoo shrugged. "That's him right? Standing in the doorway?"

"Yep, that's your guy."

"Subin," Jinwoo tapped the younger on his shoulder. "Avert your eyes from mediocrity and pay attention to me real quick, yea. Hi, I'm Jinwoo. Former president, or tyrant if you prefer that, of this godforsaken school. I was wondering if you'd like to help me out with another conquest. And no, no one is getting humiliated. Are you interested? You don't seem busy."

Subin pondered the idea of helping an ex-tyrant out. "What do I get?" Subin asked.

"I'm sure the senior you admire so much would finally acknowledge you if you did this. I suggest you do it. We've already put your name on the poster, presumably, so you're obligated to say yes by now." Jinwoo said.

"Does the principal not monitor what you guys do?" Subin asked.

"Not really," Jinwoo replied. "She kind of lets us do what we want."

"What's the plan?" Subin asked.

"Well, we're gonna have the answer key obviously so you'll know this answers. We just need you to lose by a landslide so that it looks like a fierce competition. It'll also look like Yein reflected on her actions and actually studied."

"Wouldn't it be better if she actually studied?" Subin asked.

"Yea," Jinwoo agreed. "But would it be as fun if she didn't?"

"Well, I guess," Subin replied, reluctantly. "What could go wrong?"

Backstage was a mess. They had forgotten to assign a host so Dongmin was given the role. Jinwoo thought of it as a PR stunt type of thing. Cathy was supposed to bring to the earpiece to wire information but she was late so the whole operation was put in jeopardy. Luckily, she made it on time. Yein didn't know how to put an earpiece in and Mijoo almost ripped the girl's hair out trying to explain how to do it. Of course, Yein had also forgotten how to use an earpiece since the last quiz show so she was very close to death as Mijoo walked her through the steps. Subin was fine though. He said he had studied the answer key that Jinwoo had given and known what answer he would get wrong. Jinwoo wished that Yein could retain information like Subin could, he'd count his blessings for now though. 

"Are you winging it?" Jinwoo asked Dongmin.

"We've winged it before. That interview and all." Dongmin replied.

"Hmm," Jinwoo put his index finger to his chin. "I remember you saying that you had multiple partners before. I think, since we're in a committed relationship now, I deserve to know."

"Aww," Dongmin ruffled Jinwoo's hair. "You look like a puppy when you're jealous. 

"I'm not jealous," Jinwoo swatted his hand away. "I'm just curious."

"I was like," Dongmin grabbed Jinwoo's cheeks and squished them. "No need to worry. I had to be quick on my feet to match your responses."

"You're annoying," Jinwoo said, he wasn't trying to stop Dongmin from squishy his cheeks.

"You love it."

"So what if I do?" 

"Lovebirds!" Cathy called. "It's time for that hotshot to go on."

Dongmin gave Jinwoo's lips a quick kiss and grabbed the microphone from Cathy. 

"Hopefully he doesn't fuck up on the improvisation and whatever," Cathy sighed. "Have you seen Bin? I thought he'd be backstage with us."

"Johnny has been infatuated with him since last week when they first started ‘dating'," Jinwoo let his voice do the air quoting. "He invited him to the quiz show and wasn't taking no for an answer. I feel like Bin kind of likes it though, despite saying the opposite. He's an attention whore."

"Well, looks like your plan is working. The band and athletes haven't gotten along this well since" Cathy calculated the years with a thoughtful look. "Well, it was definitely before Tiffany's time at the school."

"I'm looking for a new brand after all this is over," Jinwoo said. "How does peacemaker sound? Or the purifier? I want something simple yet elegant."

"You make want to go with the prideful," Cathy pat Jinwoo on the shoulder. "Watch the monitor, Dongmin is gonna introduce the school's reborn genius."

The student council deemed it necessary to have a monitor installed, with a camera facing the stage of course, just so they wouldn't have to rely on hearing and intuition. Jinwoo thinks they should all thank him since the calligraphy club owed him a few favors. Of course, Dongmin winged every bit of his introduction speech well. Emphasizing the importance of academics and how we should all try to be competitive in whatever was good at. He introduced Subin as a newcomer who does well and threw as much praise to Yein as he possibly could. Dongmin also thanked everyone for voting for him and promised to fulfill all their wishes. He called for the quiz to start and walked off stage.

"How'd I do?" Dongmin asked as he rounded the corner to the back.

"Great. I think you put too much emphasis on Yein though. You looked like a liar." Jinwoo teased.

"Well, maybe you should be the host." Dongmin pinched Jinwoo's cheek hard.

"And get booed off the stage? I don't think so, pretty boy. As long as you don't give away that you're lying everyone will believe you." Jinwoo smacked Dongmin's hand away and playfully punched his arm.

"I wasn't telling complete lies," Dongmin said in defense. "I'm sure Yein is a diligent kid."

"Not from what Mijoo says. But it's cute that you can look past someone's flaws to see something decent in them."

"Yea, you were good practice." Dongmin pinched Jinwoo's cheeks again.

"Tell me my best qualities then. I want to know what my boyfriend really thinks of me." Jinwoo pinched Dongmin's cheek.

"You're passionate about what you do, you can outwit just about anyone in this school, you're a natural born leader, you're funny even if you don't think so, and you look like a puppy. Those are my top five things." Dongmin lets go of his cheeks and poked his nose.

Jinwoo stuck his tongue out "You're gross. I liked it better when you would take beatings." 

"It's nice to see you guys be a cute gay couple but we have a problem," Cathy was speed walking towards them. "Yein's earpiece died."

"Why wasn't it charged in the first place?" Jinwoo asked. "I can never trust those stupid kids to do anything right?"

"There are more headpieces in the AV room," Cathy turned to the monitor. Yein was obviously thrown for a loop when she heard the device give its last beep indicating it was dead. "So, hopefully, you guys can come up with a distraction," Cathy handed Dongmin the mic and pushed passed them. "I'm counting on you two."

"You're the host," Jinwoo said quickly. "Just call an emergency break before Yein gets too many answers wrong." Jinwoo pushed Dongmin up the stairs.

Dongmin gave Jinwoo a vague nod as he clutched the mic Cathy had handed him. "Whoops!" He laughed as he got on stage. "Time really slipped by me! I forgot to mention that we had a scheduled break for you and our contestants. Please use this time to use the bathroom or anything before we continue." Dongmin flashed his award-winning smiled as the auditorium filled with light chatter. Walking off stage, Dongmin met up with Jinwoo again.

"How long is a break?" Dongmin asked.

"I don't fucking know," Jinwoo shrugged. "Five minutes? Ten seems a bit too suspicious since you just randomly got up there. Cathy will probably make it in five minutes since she's crazy as shit. But if she doesn't, you'll have to extend the distraction."

"How do I do that?" 

"Beats me," Jinwoo stretched. "Just fill the quietness with noise. You're charismatic, ask them questions. Talk to them about their day. Kiss a baby on the forehead. The people chose you for a reason." 

"I guess you're right," Dongmin nodded. "What if Cathy takes longer?"

"Let's just hope that doesn't happen." Jinwoo sighed.

"It's been four minutes. Should I go on now?" 

"Do your best." Jinwoo pat Dongmin's back and pushed him up the stairs again.

Dongmin cleared his throat before he entered the stage. "Our break is almost over but I see there are a few empty seats," Dongmin flashed a smile again. "First of all, I wanted to thank whoever voted for me. Even if I won by process of elimination I'm still thankful for people who liked me enough to vote for me. Second of all, I'm in the process of getting a few new rules passed. Also, make sure to do well on your tests so we can receive more government money and I can distribute it to you all. I'm sure various clubs have been waiting to receive a few extra things they need to make sure to study hard! Also, just because the semester's ending doesn't mean you should slack off. You should always try your best and give it your all!" Dongmin was running out of things too. It didn't seem like Cathy was going to bring the earpiece anytime soon either. Dongmin doesn't usually do anything stupid or irrational, that was Jinwoo's job. Dongmin was the rational half, we calculated things and thought them through. He thinks Jinwoo was beginning to rub off on him. "I'd also like to introduce you guys to someone. I'm sure you all know who the current student council is."

"What is this guy doing?" Jinwoo mumbled to himself as he watched the monitor.

"Recently, some developments have affected our relationship in a certain way. It may come as a shock to you all. But I think this would be a good lesson. You don't truly know a person just by looking at what's shown on a surface level."

"He's just saying whatever comes into his head, huh?" Minhyuk asked, fiddling with the earpiece. "He definitely inherited that from you."

"I would like to introduce you all, the student body, to my boyfriend Park Jinwoo!" He gestured at the left of the stage, hoping Jinwoo would pick up the cue he laid out. Of course, the audience all broke into whispers. Most of them were thinking that Dongmin was talking about the other Jinwoo that intended. His last name wasn't Park was the problem though. "There could always be another Jinwoo." was the second argument. But, the school was small, people would know if a new student arrived especially if their name was Jinwoo.

Jinwoo buried his face in his hands. "He did not just do that."

"This is character development I think," Minhyuk pat Jinwoo's shoulder. "A few months ago, I don't think he'd be able to say that in front of a crowd of people. I also don't think he'd be able to pull that response out of his ass either. I think this Dongmin is much more interesting than surface level pretty boy"

"Shut up," Jinwoo sighed and shrugged Minhyuk's shoulder off. "Well, no point in delaying it. I'm sure it's already getting super awkward since I haven't appeared yet. Maybe I'll be liked by association."

Minhyuk held out another microphone. "You'll need this."

Jinwoo grabbed the microphone from Minhyuk and headed upstage. Jinwoo was good at giving speeches, it had been his job for the past 3 years. This was going to be a breeze. The damage control part was going to be the struggle. Was he prepared to restrain himself from breaking someone's neck? No. Dongmin was fully prepared for that turn of events though. Hopefully, he was as grabby as he usually was. "Okay, okay," Jinwoo said as he entered the stage. "Before we start acting like we're surprised how many of you are actually surprised. Raise your hand," About twenty-six out of the one hundred and twenty students raised their hands. "Okay, thank you for being honest. There's lots of obvious sexual tension between us I know. That's mostly resolved and no I'm not going into detail on what that implication means. I also know you're wondering why Dongmin did that whole ‘Don't judge a book by its cover speech.' right? Well, it's simple. He's a major attention whore. Yea, I know, it's a shock. Just take my word for it, it's a PR stunt. Believe me, I know a thing or two about PR stunts. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the show, Yein is super smart, and study for your finals!" Jinwoo finished the last sentence quickly and pulled Dongmin off stage.

"There you go, being a genius as usual." Dongmin gave Jinwoo his heartthrob smile.

"You're lucky I didn't beat your ass on stage," Jinwoo huffed. "Where the hell is Cathy?"

"She came in the middle of your speech," Minhyuk replied. "Yein has her earpiece and everything is proceeding as intended."

"Was the audience buying the whole act before we went on?" Jinwoo asked.

Minhyuk nodded. "Yep, they think she's improved herself and reflected. Although, I can't help but feel this is a lot less dramatic than last time. So was the Bin and Johnny thing."

Jinwoo shrugged. "Everything has just calmed down a bit. I'm kind of tired doing over-the-top things. We just need to make Yuta popular again and then the school year is practically over." 

 

♔

"How are the developments with Johnny?" Jinwoo asked, remote in his hands.

"Pretty good, I think? He's been trying to kiss me all week but other than that the band and the athletes are actually getting along. So, your plan worked." Bin replied  
Jinwoo turned to Mijoo. "Status on Yein?" 

"She's studying for the first time in her life and is actually doing something instead of lazing around all day. People like her again," Mijoo yawned. "It's boring as hell I thought it would be something interesting. Like a tragic ending. You couldn't have left things they way they were?"

"I could've," Jinwoo said. "But now that I have a conscious I couldn't let their despair be in the universe," Jinwoo turned to Seolhyun. "What about you, Seolhyun? How are you faring?"

"Fine," Seolhyun replied.

"Great," Jinwoo clapped his hands. "It's June now, the school year is about to be over but we still have to make Yuta popular again."

"Do we have to?" Mijoo groaned. "He was an asshole anyway. Yuto is much nicer."

"I'm not saying we have to bring Yuto to the bottom again. I'm just saying since we're reversing everyone's damage we have to include his too. Don't we?" Jinwoo asked.

"I guess," Mijoo mumbled.

Jinwoo clicked his remote again. "We're having a summer festival and Yuta is going to do a performance there. Yuta is a dancer as well as a football player. I didn't even know he was a dancer but one of the dance club members told me he used to be a member, so the more you know. I already told him and he's getting the dance coordinated and what not. All we have to do is set up. I did secure funding and I got Myungjun to email the homeroom teacher of each class that they had to make a stand or turn a classroom into something. The student council is doing a host cafe of course." Everyone's groaned synced with Mijoo's

Jinwoo couldn't help but feel a little sad while setting up for the host cafe. The school year was ending as usual but this time he wasn't going to be president next term. Things were changing a lot. Jinwoo noticed it himself, he was getting a little less bombastic and more chilled out. There was no need to stress over students misbehaving or deadlines for official documents. It was just schoolwork and setting up now. Jinwoo looked back on this year with a bit of embarrassment but drowned it out with his pride. Dongmin always told him passion was his best attribute. Maybe it wasn't that bad to be over-passionate. Unless you're a tyrant of course.

Another thing that Jinwoo noticed was that he started making actual friends. Sure, Myungjun, Minhyuk, Bin, and Sanha could've been considered friends previously but they were friends with Jinwoo out of fear rather than out of an actual mutual liking. Now that he wasn't yelling at them with consistency it was easier to form a bond with them. He was also getting along with the rest of the student council. Mijoo and Jinwoo had similar personalities so they got along a lot of the time. Cathy had gotten over the stage of being wary of Jinwoo. Jenny was never around for Jinwoo to interact with but every time she did pop in he enjoyed her company. Even if setting up everything was a sign that Jinwoo was changing, it felt nice.

"You look good with your hair slicked back," Dongmin commented.

"And you look like you do every day. You give off a natural host vibe." Jinwoo stuck his tongue out. 

"I'm sorry for being pretty." Dongmin bowed.

"Go do your job." Handed a tray to him.

Running a cafe was more tiring than it seemed. Dongmin was in high demand, always being called on. Jinwoo resorted to being a chef. The menu they had was simple but since everyone was staying for an extended period of time it was getting harder and harder for the staff to keep up with the number of orders. Dongmin had raw power in the form of looks. It was kind of incredible. 

"Ugh, I'm exhausted," Jinwoo said, rubbing his back. "You attracted too many people."

"Are you ready to watch Yuta's performance?" Dongmin asked, taking his hand.

"Fuck his performance, let's go on the roof." Jinwoo entwined their fingers.

"You're not going to watch it?" Dongmin raised his eyebrows.

"He'll do great. I'm sure everyone will be talking about it until the next semester." Jinwoo opened the door to the roof and dragged Dongmin up with him. A warm breeze hit the duo but Dongmin's hands were cold so Jinwoo didn't mind. The sky was painted orange, pink, and blue hues. It was pretty. Jinwoo was happy he could view it with him.

"We can watch Yuta's performance from here." Dongmin pointed out.

"I guess, I'd rather look at the sky though," Jinwoo said as he took a seat.

"I'd rather look at you."

"You're so corny." Jinwoo rolled his eyes and pat the empty space next to him.

"You've changed a lot this year," Dongmin said.

"For better, I assume."

"Mhm, before you were some unhinged tyrant now you don't even have the energy to watch your schemes unfold." 

"I guess dictators have to retire to." Jinwoo sighed. 

"With their spouses."

"You're saying you want to marry me already?"

"Who knows what the future holds."

"I'm glad I met you, Dongmin," Jinwoo doesn't know what came over him. "I'm not gonna say I love you or anything but I really like you. I guess you have to meet someone that makes up for something you lack to realize a few things."

"I planned out this moment in my head you know," Dongmin replied. "A few years ago when I just watched you from afar. I'm glad you didn't say anything about love though. It's nice to see you finally calm down."

"You didn't like me wild?"

"I didn't say that. Docile puppies are just as cute as untrained one."

Jinwoo punched his arm. "You still don't know how to word things."

Dongmin rubbed his own arm and laughed. "Take it as a compliment, you're cute."

"Whatever, you're cuter when you're kissing me." Jinwoo stuck his tongue out.

"Then let's start this summer with one." Dongmin leaned in for a kiss. Jinwoo doesn't mind the change anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was more based on character building i think idk whats going on but im glad the story ended here even if the bin and johnny crack pairing subplot is left untied (oops)

**Author's Note:**

> ive always liked this idea of a story about trying to regain/maintain power but i felt like if i tried to make it in a medieval-ish setting i wouldnt know how to write it so i just modernized it instead even if i had to make jinwoo ooc to fit the concept i liked how everything turned out so i hope u liked it as much as i did and look forward to the next chapters


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